A SHORT COURSE IN 
ADVERTISING 




—and you meet 'his eyes proudly 



?JS 







Pears 

He at -Toned 
in atjree with, the skin 



The advertisement of twenty years ago (shown at the upper left) is con- 
trasted with the recent advertisement (shown above). This contrast 
typifies the progress that advertising has made in the last two decades. 
The tendency has been mainly away from the tricky and the clever, toward 
the kind of appeal which is human, helpful, sincere, and persuasive. 



A SHORT COURSE IN 
ADVERTISING 



BY 

ALEX F. OSBORN, Ph.M. 

VICE-PRESIDENT BARTON, DURSTINE & OSBORN, INC. 

FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN SALES AND ADVERTISING IN HUTCHINSON HIGH SCHOOL 

AND ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE, BUFFALO, N. Y. 



WITH PREFACE BY 



MAC MARTIN 



CHAIRMAN, AGENCY SERVICE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF 

ADVERTISING AGENCIES 

PROFESSORIAL LECTURER IN ADVERTISING, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 

FORMERLY CHAIRMAN OF RESEARCH COMMITTEE OF THE ASSOCIATED ADVERTISING CLUBS 

OF THE WORLD 

EX-PRESIDENT OF MINNEAPOLIS ADVERTISING FORUM 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1921 






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cy 



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Copyright, 1921, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published March, 1921 



AUG 17 1921 




©CI.A624004 






TO 

MY WIFE 



AUTHOR'S NOTE 

This book reflects a study of the work of a 
thousand or more men, crystallized in my own ex- 
perience in the advertising of some thirty different 
products, involving an annual expenditure of over 
a million. 

The mother of this book is necessity — the ne- 
cessity I felt for some simple, comprehensive text 
while I served as a teacher. This strongly in- 
clined me to attempt the preparation of such a 
text. Later this inclination was aggravated by 
contact with men who spend millions on adver- 
tising: I made the attempt and now offer the re- 
sult in the hope that those captains of business, 
as well as the novices, may care to view the inner 
"works" of advertising. 

Certain men have definitely helped. Each chap- 
ter has been revised and corrected, by an expert 
who seemed best fitted in each phase. 



CONTENTS 

Introduction by Mac Martin 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. How Advertising Aids Civilization . . i 

II. Name-Publicity Versus Persuasive-Ad- 
vertising 8 

III. The Trade-Mark as a Mental Peg . . 12 

IV. Analyzing the Problem 19 

V. What Words Work Best on the Pros- 
pect 3o 

VI. Suggestion — the Motive Power of Ad- 
vertising 39 

VII. Ways to Win Attention 47 

VIII. How Do Size and Color Aid Display? . 55 

IX. Printing Processes, Plates, and Papers . 64 

X. Type and Typographical Arrangement . 76 

XI. Visualizing the Advertising Message . 86 

XII. Preliminary v Analysis by the Retail Ad- 
vertiser 95 

XIII. Analysis of Retail Appeal 102 

XIV. Methods of Retail Advertising . . . 109 

XV. Advertising's Part in Department 

Stores 117 

XVI. Who and Where Are the Best Pros- 
pects? 125 

XVII. Analysis of the Consumer's Attitude . 132 

ix 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVIII. Methods of Distribution 138 

XIX. Retail Branches and Exclusive Agencies 145 

XX. Producer — Jobber — Dealer Distribu- 
tion 150 

XXI. Consumer Advertising Which Enlists 

the Dealer 156 

XXII. Advertising — Plus Sales Work . . . 162 

XXIII. The Salesman and the Advertising . 169 

XXIV. Planning a General Campaign . . . 174 
XXV. Continuity Through a Central Thought 181 

XXVI. Factors in the Selection of Media . 187 

XXVII. The Daily Newspaper as a Medium . 194 

XXVIII. Sunday Newspapers and Newspaper Co- 
operation .... fT) .... 200 

XXIX. Magazines, Class and Trade Publica- 
tions 204 

XXX. Street-Car, Theatre, and Outdoor Me- 
dia 209 

XXXI. Demonstrating, Sampling, and Sales 

Aids 216 

XXXII. The Dealer's Store as a Medium . . 222 

XXXIII. The Mail as a Medium 227 

XXXIV. A Typical National Campaign . . . 232 
XXXV. A Typical Localized Campaign . . . 239 

• 

Index ».. 245 







INTRODUCTION 

Benjamin Franklin was a man with great vision. I won- 
der, on that memorable night when he and his son were flying 
their little silk kite out in the storm, whether he could see the 
thing which he was collecting in his Leyden jar as we use it 
to-day. 

It is less than one hundred and seventy years since Frank- 
lin's experiments, yet to-day we use this power to assist in 
almost every field of human endeavor. It heats our houses. 
It drives our locomotives. It lights our cities. It makes the 
deaf hear and the blind see. It even resuscitates the drown- 
ing. As soon as this power was captured, controlled, and di- 
rected, it became so much a part of the daily life of man that 
now we can hardly imagine a world without it. 

Advertising, like electricity, is indefinable. It is a power 
which moves minds as electricity moves elements. It runs 
in a current; it has momentum; it is founded on the mag- 
netism of character just as electricity is founded on the mag- 
netism of matter. 

The other day I saw a great crane lift some enormous steel 
girders to the top of a tall building. Nothing held them to 
the crane but this fluid power we call electricity. In a moment 
some one pressed a button somewhere and the girders fell. 
The power had been released. The big steel surface of the 
crane was, in itself, helpless to retain them. 

The other day I was looking through the pages of an old 
magazine and I came across an advertisement long forgotten. 
I recalled the day when the name of the thing there adver- 
tised was a household word throughout the length and breadth 
of the land. A few years ago some one had pressed a button 
somewhere. The true power of advertising had been shut 
off. The maker tried everything he could to lift the name 
again, but his advertising was gone as completely and perma- 
nently as the power of the magnetic crane. 



xii INTRODUCTION 

Concentrating a message into an advertisement is much 
like charging a Leyden jar. A man never fully realizes what 
his undertaking is until he begins to put his mind on paper. 
When one begins to picture a thing as he wishes the world to 
see it, he has taken the first step toward making the thing as 
he would have the world know it. 

Advertising is that electrifying power which takes these 
vague notions we have and changes them into policies we are 
willing to fight for. 

Advertising is the power which electrifies the salesman, 
the wholesaler, and the dealer into a spirit of service beyond 
the mere sale. 

Just as in electricity Franklin proved the power of points 
to conduct, Volta demonstrated the ability of the current to 
travel, Faraday discovered the power of currents to rotate, 
and Edison turned the spark into a steady light — so to-day 
energetic advertising men are giving their lives in an effort to 
add little by little and step by step to the world's knowledge 
of this great omnipresent power which we call advertising. 

The book which you are about to read analyzes and explains 
the secrets of this great force. It is not filled with theories of 
what might be done. It shows what is being done. It takes 
up the things we now know one by one and explains the whys 
so that the same things may be done again. It tells how this 
power may be captured, controlled, and directed. Read it 
carefully not only for the words but for the thoughts it makes 
you see between the lines. It is for you to direct the power 
you thus master. It is for you to find new uses perhaps here- 
tofore undreamed. 

Mr. Osborn, the author, has been one of the most active 
participants in this new development. His advertising has 
helped to turn an unknown brand into a world-leader. In 
several instances he has helped to nationalize local industries 
and make possible in five years the progress that would have 
required twenty years without the electrification of adver- 
tising. 

As an instructor in Sales and Advertising in Hutchinson 



INTRODUCTION 



Xlll 



High School and the Association Institute of Buffalo, he has 
given his time and his ideas freely that others might profit by 
his work. A close student of business conditions, he has 
developed some of the most successful advertising plans of 
the last decade. He is Vice-President of Barton, Durstine & 
Osborn, an advertising agency which handles some thirty of 
the notable advertising campaigns of to-day. 

If you obtain from this book the pleasure and profit which 
I have, I think you will agree with me that the world is start- 
ing to control, direct, and use the force of advertising fully 
as effectively as it has used that other great indefinable force, 
electricity. 

Mac Martin. 

February 28, 1921. 



QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN 
THIS BOOK 

CHAPTER I 

1 . What is advertising ? 

2. How is advertising justified? 

3. How did advertising start ? 

4. Explain why advertising does not increase the cost to the 

consumer. 

5. How does advertising protect the consumer? 

6. Name four additional benefits that advertising has given 

the world. 

CHAPTER II 

1. What is the purpose of name-advertising? 

2. What is the purpose of persuasive advertising? 

3. How does persuasive advertising accomplish its purpose ? 

4. Which kind of advertising usually brings the best results ? 

CHAPTER III 

1 . Why should a national advertiser have a trade mark ? 

2. What is a trade mark? 

3. What restrictions are made in reference to trade mark 

registration ? 

4. How can permanent protection for a trade mark be in- 

sured? 

5. Does registering of a trade mark give full protection? 

Explain. 

6. Should more than one brand be advertised at a time ? 

Why? 

7. Is it ever desirable to abandon trade marks? Why? 

8. What is the difference between "registration" and 

"copyright" ? 

CHAPTER IV 

1. What basic elements determine how a product should be 

presented ? 

2. What are the three main channels through which desires 

may be influenced ? 



XVI QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK 

3. What are the three main classes of products? 

4. How would you advertise a product that is "Unknown — 

Unwanted"? 

5. How would you advertise a product that is "Half-Known 

— Half-Wanted"? 

6. What is the main difference between these two types of 

products, from an advertising view-point? 

7. What is the object of advertising " Unknown-by-Brand " 

products ? 

8. What is the main task in advertising "Unknown-by- 

Brand" products? 

9. In which class of products can "Name Publicity" best be 

used? 



CHAPTER V 

1 . What does psychology mean when applied to advertising ? 

2. What is the "Psychology of Copy" ? 

3. What part do illustrations play in convincing the pros- 

pect? 

4. Why should long words be avoided in advertising ? 

5. Why is it better to use verbs than adjectives? 

6. When should longer words be used in advertising copy? 

7. What is the first essential in getting interest? 

8. What are two disadvantages to over-emphasis of the 

manufacturer's name? 



CHAPTER VI 

1. Which is the stronger factor in advertising — 

(a) Appeal to reason ? 

(b) Appeal to emotions ? 

2. What is the difference between the logical mind and the 

feeling mind ? . 
-*■ 3. By what three ways is suggestion in advertising brought 
about ? 

4. Which is the most important ? 

5. Which kind of words succeed best in advertising- 

fa) Abstract ? or 
(b) Concrete ? 

6. Name three ways of making a thought specific and con- 

crete. 

7. Name four general methods of writing an advertisement. 

8. Which is the most effective? 



QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK XYll 

CHAPTER VII 

1 . What two kinds of display are used to attract attention ? 

2. Name six different ways in which Eye-Display may be 

accomplished. 

3. What precaution should be used in obtaining Eye- 

Display ? 

4. By what process is Mind-Display accomplished ? 

5. Should Mind-Display ever suggest unpleasantness? 

When ? 

6. How does repetition help in advertising? 



CHAPTER VIII 

1 . How does color aid display ? 

2. What are three qualities that colors possess? 

3. Have colors any other value to advertising beyond 

attracting attention ? 

4. How does size aid display? 

5. Does size have any other value to advertising beyond 

attracting attention? 

6. What is "Voluntary Interest"? 

7. How does it influence the size of advertisements? 

8. How can voluntary interest be obtained in an advertise- 

ment of a product that does not possess this quality ? 



CHAPTER IX 

1. What are the three main printing processes used in adver- 

tising ? 

2. Explain each process. 

3. What process is used by big newspapers? 

4. When should lithography be used ? 

5. What three kinds of presses are used in lithography? 

6. What is the Rotogravure process ? 

7. Name the three kinds of printing plates. 

8. How is a half-tone made? 

9. Name three kinds of half-tones. 

10. What is "Screen"? 

1 1 . What kind of screen is used for — 

(a) Smooth-surfaced paper? 

(b) Newspapers ? 



xviii QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK 

12. How is a "zinc" made? 

13. Can photographs be reproduced by the zinc etchin; 

process ? 

14. How is a "Wood-cut" made? 

15. What is an electrotype? 

16. How can you tell an electrotype from — 

(a) An original zinc ? 

(b) An original half-tone ? 

17. What is a "matrix"? 

18. What is a "stereotype"? 

19. What does "sizing" mean when applied to paper? 

20. Explain the meaning of — 

(a) M. F. 

(b) S. & S. C. 



CHAPTER X 

1. Why is it better to use "upper and lower" case letters 

than capital letters? 

2. Why is a short caption better than a long one? 

3. Are italics better than capitals for emphasis ? Why ? 

4. What is the first essential in the selection of type ? 

5. Name the four classes into which type may be divided. 

6. Explain the meaning of the following in reference to 

type— 

(a) "Font." 

(b) "Face." 

(c) "Condensed." 

(d) "Extended." 

(e) "Bold." 
(/) "Point." 
0?) "Em." 
(h) "Line." 
(*) "Leaded." 

7. Name three methods of composition of type. 

8. Explain each one and tell its advantages. 

9. Explain the meaning of — 

(a) "Dummy." 

(b) "Layout." 

10. What are the three main factors that insure attractive- 

ness and proper presentation ? 

11. Explain each one. 



QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK xix 

CHAPTER XI 

r*I. What part should the illustration play in visualizing the 
advertising message ? 
2. Should a "line" cut ever be used on smooth paper? 
When ? 
P3. Name three examples of poor illustrations. 

4. What direction should an illustration be made to follow? 
^5. How can one get appeal into an illustration ? 

6. Name three kinds of photographs used in advertising. 

7. What is a wash drawing and how is it made ? 

8. What is a line drawing and how is it made ? 

9. What is meant by "Ben Day" ? 

- 10. W T hat factors determine the kind of illustration to be used ? 

CHAPTER XII 

r 1 . What is the first step in analyzing by the retail advertiser ? 
2. How should the retailer appeal to people with incomes of 

less than $50 a week ? 
h 3. After finding out who possible customers are and what 

goods should be offered them, what is the next step in 

analysis of the retail advertiser ? 
f 4. How should a retailer decide on how much to spend for 

advertising ? 

5. Should a retailer ever use "Want Ads" to sell mer- 

chandise ? 
~6. What should advertising accomplish aside from creating 
orders ? 

CHAPTER XIII 

f 1. What should be the dominant feature of most retail 

advertising ? 
j 2. What is the main difference between the appeal used 

successfully by department stores and that used by 

specialty shops? 
"^ 3. What happens when a store continually exaggerates in 

its advertising? 
-^4. Name two ways of increasing the effectiveness of a retail 

advertisement. 

CHAPTER XIV 

1. What class of retailer can best use "direct mail" circular 
matter? 
-> 2. What medium is the surest for — 



XX QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK 

(a) The retailer who serves a community — wide 

trade ? 

(b) The local retailer who serves a particular 

neighborhood ? 
Why? 

3. Which kind of newspaper is usually the best for adver- 

tising articles that appeal to women — 

(a) Morning ? 

(b) Evening ? 

4. What is the soundest rule for making a selection between 

these two kinds of newspapers. 

5. What part do the sales-people in a retail store play in 

making advertising productive ? 

6. What advertising helps can the retailer get for nothing? 

CHAPTER XV 

J> 1. How can advertising help to build the personality of a 

department store? 
^ 2. Should a department store feature nationally advertised 

products ? Why ? 

3. What does the "buyer" in most department stores have 

to do with advertising? 

- 4. Who selects the articles to be advertised in each depart- 
ment ? 

^5. What do most department stores use as the main attrac- 
tion to get people to come to their stores ? 

CHAPTER XVI 

^ 1. How should a product be analyzed to find out who are 

able and likely to buy ? 
r^2. How can lowered prices mean increased profits? 
-3. How can the nature of a product help decide the question 

"Who is my best prospect"? 

4. How do government census statistics help in the analysis 

of the market for a product ? 

CHAPTER XVII 

I. How can trade conditions be analyzed? 

0.2. What methods will be effective in analyzing consumer 
attitude ? 

_> 3. What points should be covered in an analysis of the con- 
sumer's attitude? 



QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK XXI 



CHAPTER XVIII 

1. Name four methods of distribution. 

2. Can two firms in the same business operate different 

methods of distribution successfully? 

3. What is the usual cost of getting one inquiry from a mail- 

order advertisement? 

4. When can a 50-cent article be successfully sold by mail- 

order advertising? 

5. What part do repeat orders play in making the mail-order 

business successful ? 

6. If you are selling a staple article by mail, what must be 

the main appeal ? 

7. What is the premium appeal used by some mail-order 

houses ? 

CHAPTER XIX 

1. Why is it dangerous for a concern that sells through 

dealers to try to sell direct to the consumer too ? 

2. How can you deal with the consumer direct and yet not 

sell by mail ? 

3. What types of merchandise are best sold in this way? 

4. What objections are there to the giving of " exclusive 

agencies" ? 

5. What kind of products lend themselves best to this 

method ? 

CHAPTER XX 

1. How does the jobber save the retailer money? 

2. What is the usual discount to jobbers? 

3. With goods moving through jobber and dealer channels, 

on what does the selling usually depend ? Why ? 

4. What is " putting goods in on consignment" ? 

5. How can you tempt a dealer to push your goods if you 

do not give him an exclusive agency or make sales by 
advertising ? 

6. What are the disadvantages of doing this ? 



CHAPTER XXI 

1. Why is it necessary to "sell" the dealer if the advertising 

will make people want your goods ? 

2. How can the manufacturer "sell" the dealer? 



XX11 QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK 

3. Does a manufacturer ever pay for part of the dealer's 

advertising ? When ? 

4. Name four ways of accomplishing consumer-advertising- 

that-enlists-the-dealer. 

CHAPTER XXII 

1 . Why is. distribution necessary before advertising starts ? 

2. Is it better to sell the dealer a large or a small stock before 

the advertising starts ? Why ? 

3. Why is local advertising sometimes used in addition to 

national advertising? 

s 4. What are the three principal methods of using local adver- 
tising to enlist the dealer and secure distribution ? 

I 5. How can manufacturers rely solely on local advertising to 
get distribution? 

CHAPTER XXIII 

1 . Why should salesmen understand advertising ? 

2. Why does selling the advertising help to the dealer help 

him? 

3. What are the reasons why a salesman will gain by selling 

the advertising? 

CHAPTER XXIV 

I . What are some of the things a manufacturer should know 
before he plans an advertising campaign ? 

~2. Does it cost more to buy advertising space through an 
advertising agency than if you bought it direct from 
the publisher? 

^3. From what source does an agency get its income ? 

4. What are the duties of an advertising manager ? 

5. Why is it possible to tell the dealer the profit on your 

goods in advertising in trade journals? 

6. What part do trade journals play in an advertising cam- 



paign ? 



CHAPTER XXV 



v i. What is meant by the " central thought" of an advertising 

campaign ? 
->2. Why should a "central thought" be back of a campaign ? 
.3. What are the three qualities which a central thought 
should have? 



QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK XXI 11 

4. Can a central thought become a slogan ? How ? 
,> 5. Name three mechanical methods by which continuity in 
a campaign may be obtained. 
6. What other ways are there of obtaining this continuity ? 



CHAPTER XXVI 

1 . How does analysis of the product, prospect, and distribu- 

tion plans help decide the question of "what media"? 

2. How can the copy influence the choice of a medium? 

3. How does "method of distribution" help decide on tne 

media and copy to be used ? 

4. For what class of product are novelties best adapted as 

an advertising medium ? 

5. How does the character of your message help determine 

the media to be used ? 

6. How does the size of the appropriation help determine 

the media to be used ? 

7. What are some of the other factors that enter into the 

choice of media ? 



CHAPTER XXVII 

1 . About how many daily newspapers are there in the U. S. ? 

2. What two kinds of weekly newspapers are there? 

3. What is the usual cost of newspaper space per line per 

thousand circulation ? 

4. Why is the system of newspaper rates called — 

(a) "Fixed-space?" 

(b) "Open-space?" 

5. What is meant by — 

(a) " Run-of-paper position ? " 

(b) "Preferred position ?" 

6. How does newspaper advertising lend itself to checking 

up results of the campaign ? 

7. What are some of the disadvantages of newspaper adver- 

tising ? 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

I. How is the objection to the crowded condition of Sunday 
newspapers offset ? 
\ 2. Is the Sunday newspaper a good medium to reach women ? 
Why ? 



XXIV QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK 

3. How do some newspapers help the advertiser sell the 

advertising to the trade? 

4. How do they help in analysing the local market ? 

5. How do they help the manufacturers' salesmen? 

6. In what other ways do newspapers co-operate with adver- 

tisers ? 

CHAPTER XXIX 

1. How much money is spent in advertising in magazines in 

the U. S. each year? 

2. Name five classes of magazines and tell what each class 

includes. 

3. In general, which class has the most responsive circu- 

lation ? 

4. About how much more does it cost for advertising in. 

magazines than in newspapers per line per thousand 
circulation ? 

5. Why are advertisements in magazines more apt to interest 

the reader than those in other media ? 

6. What are " class publications" ? 



CHAPTER XXX 

1. What are the arguments in favor of street-car adver- 

tisements ? 

2. When should this kind of advertising be used? 

3. What are some of the disadvantages of car cards adver- 

tising ? 

4. What is the size of the standard street-car card ? 

5. What are the arguments for and against advertising by 

stereopticon slides ? 

6. Name three other kinds of theatre advertising. 

7. Name the three general classes of outdoor media. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

1 . Is it better to charge for samples than to give them away ? 

Why? 

2. How can sampling be used to test the effectiveness of 

advertising media? 

3. What does it mean to "key an advertisement"? 

4. Why does a coupon help to bring more inquiries from an 

advertisement ? 



QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK XX v 

5. Show how house-to-house sampling can be used to sell 

goods to the dealer. 

6. Why should advertising be carried on at the same time as 

demonstrating ? 



CHAPTER XXXII 

1 . Why are dealer displays valuable ? 

2. What are the four main kinds of dealer displays? 

3. What is the average cost of installing a complete window 

display ? 
4- Define the following: 
5. Of what do outside-of-store displays usually consist? 

(a) Cut-out. 

(b) Decalcomania. 

(c) Sign-put. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

1. What are the two classes of direct-mail advertising? 

2. How can direct-mail advertising help the salesman? 

3. Which will bring most returns — 

(a) Direct-mail with return card unstamped ? 

(b) Direct-mail with stamped return card ? 

4. Name five kinds of direct-mail matter. 

5. Where expensive material is to be mailed, how should 

the prospect be prepared for it? 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

1. When a company has been successful without advertis- 

ing, is there any reason why they should advertise ? 
Explain. 

2. How would you decide upon which of the general classes 

of publications to use in a national campaign ? 

3. Is it better to use a large schedule in one publication, or 

small schedules in several publications ? Why ? 

4. What material should a Sales Advertising Manual contain ? 



CHAPTER XXXV 

I. When a company has distribution in cities that have 25 
per cent of the total population of the country, would 
magazine advertising be effective? 



XXVI QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK 

2. After advertising has made a brand the leader, should 

there be a reduction in the amount of advertising? 

3. When advertising has been omitted for a year, does it 

cost more or less than the amount saved to bring sales 
back to normal ? Why ? 



A SHORT COURSE IN 
ADVERTISING 



CHAPTER I 

How Advertising Aids Civilization 

Why does advertising hold the centre of the business stage 
to-day ? Why is it so fascinating ? Is it because of its magni- 
tude — the fact that it represents a yearly expenditure of a 
billion or more ? No. Its appeal is greater than that of mere 
volume. Its lure lies in its unfathomable mystery, in its 
Aladdin-like power. For advertising never can be cut-and- 
dried. So long as human nature remains infinitely variable, 
there can be no rule-of- thumb methods of advertising; for 
human nature is the raw material upon which it must work. 
Advertising is therefore not a science but an art, based upon 
a set of principles originating in theories, and crystallized by 
experience. 

To define it more specifically would be difficult, but is it 
not also unnecessary for our purpose? We do not care 
whether it can best be termed "the art of creating a new 
want," as one authority would have it, or whether its true 
definition is both more specific and more extensive than that. 
For instance, a thing that is keenly wanted, such as bread, 
can nevertheless be advertised, yet, there is no "creation of 
a new want" for such a commodity. To define advertising, 
therefore, you must employ some more inclusive phrase. But 
broadly and practically speaking, it is printed salesmanship 
— and salesmanship is the business of disposing of goods at 
a profit. 

Advertising is costly. Its only justification is that it makes 
money. For most advertisers it is profitable, for others it is 
ruinous. The aim is to find why one method will win, while 
another will lose. Always, the test is the profit — that is re- 
sulting sales that yield an increased net margin in favor of 
the advertiser — whether that profit be judged by immediate 



2 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

results or by the gradual results that come with the building 
of good-will. Profit, direct or indirect, that is the alpha and 
omega of advertising. 

Although advertising is designed solely to bring greater 
profit to the advertiser, it may likewise result in increased 
value to the consumer; and this result justifies advertising 
from the standpoint of economic desirability. But that point 
is difficult to grasp. I remember that when a boy of seven- 
teen, I had to write an oration on "Economic Waste in 
America," and I then thought that advertising belonged in 
that rogue's gallery. Since then I have seen it result to the 
consumer's advantage with more than ioo different kinds 
of products in the exploitation of which I have worked. 

Advertising is the child of modern conditions. Modern 
competition is the cause of its present great volume. For- 
merly, favorable word-of-mouth comment and discussion 
gave the local merchant all the business he could handle 
"without hiring extra clerks." Then the mail-order business 
developed, and the giant "catalogue" houses began to under- 
sell the local dealer. He found it hard to "compete," simply 
because he had never known aggressive competition. He 
had not been doing enough business in proportion to his rent 
and other fixed expenses — charges that taxed his business to 
about the same degree, whether he sold $100 or $1,000 worth 
a month. 

So the local merchant began to advertise. And his com- 
petitor advertised. Competition made them both buy more 
closely. Competition made them both fight for more business. 
And, getting more business, they were better able to compete 
— not only with each other, but with those outside businesses 
which so aggressively sought to take the trade away from 
home. The upshot was such that the alert local merchant 
can now compete, because, through advertising, he can now 
sell so much more merchandise, that his cost of doing busi- 
ness has gone down from 50%, or thereabouts, to where to- 
day it averages, the country over, less than 30%, inclusive 
of a considerable advertising "expense." 

Shining examples may be given which shed a clear light 



HOW ADVERTISING AIDS CIVILIZATION 3 

on this truth: A shoe store, spending $10,000 a year on ad- 
vertising, has been able to double its business. Buying twice 
as many shoes, it can now buy closer. But that is not all. 
On its former volume of $100,000 the fixed expenses were 
about $30,000 or 30%. On double the volume, its fixed ex- 
penses are the same, plus $10,000 for advertising, or about 
$40,000 all told. Thus the cost of doing business is now 20% 
instead of 30%. And the merchant can now sell a pair of 
shoes, which cost him $4.00, at a retail price of $5.50, and 
make more money than he formerly could by selling the same 
pair at $6.20. This means a 70 cents saving for the consumer, 
and 6 cents greater profit to the seller ! 

Likewise, most manufacturers are grasping the golden 
opportunity that judicious advertising offers. For instance, 
a plant that has been doing a business of $350,000 per year 
used to have twenty drummers running about the country 
to sell that output. These twenty salesmen cost approxi- 
mately $50,000 per year, and they merely scratched the sur- 
face of the potential market. At last the manufacturer de- 
cided to take a chance. He let ten of the salesmen go and 
appropriated $15,000 for advertising. Now his volume of 
business is even bigger. Instead of $50,000 his selling now 
costs him only $40,000, and accordingly the public benefits. 

But the greatest saving to the consumer comes when the 
manufacturer becomes a benevolent giant. In advertising 
one such business — the biggest of its kind in the world — 
$300,000 a year is spent. The product is one that everybody 
needs. Many a woman who sees the large advertisements, 
says: "My — if they would only cut the price of their goods, 
instead of wasting so much money on advertising." 

That is the fallacy. This is the fact: In each $1.00 worth 
of goods about one cent goes to advertising. This mounts 
up to $300,000 on a $30,000,000 business. An increase of 
$10,000,000 in one year has resulted. The manufacturer has 
been able to put 10% more into raw materials and to pay 25% 
higher wages. In other words, a 1% expenditure on adver- 
tising has resulted in more than 25% greater income to the 
employees and considerably more than 10% better value to 



4 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

the consumer. And, in addition, the manufacturer made a 
profit which, without that expenditure on advertising, would 
have been well-nigh impossible. 

When a large cereal manufacturer came out with an an- 
nouncement that in the future every package was to be cov- 
ered with a wax cover some would-be economists said: 
"Phew — how can they so increase the cost of their goods and 
not raise the price ? " The answer is simple. So big has their 
volume of business become as a result of advertising (accord- 
ing to their own statement) that they are able not only to 
lower the price but also to give a larger package, and on top 
of that, a better box. That is how advertising increases the 
purchasing power of the average consumer's dollar. 

Additional public benefits come from two other sources: 

First, the retail merchant who handles this manufacturer's 
output is willing to sell it at a smaller margin than he would 
require of an unadvertised article. He is willing to "sacri- 
fice" part of his gross profit in this way, because he needs to 
expend less effort in selling the kind for which a demand has 
been created through advertising. 

Second, advertising benefits the public because the manu- 
facturer who advertises has to be more careful. He has to 
be surer that his goods are up to a high standard. He knows 
that advertised products are subject to much more severe 
scrutiny from the ultimate purchaser than are those for which 
no claims are published. 

Decreased selling expense enables a manufacturer to lower 
his price, cost of labor and materials permitting; and, as a 
rule, he wants to lower his price so as to lift his volume of 
business to the highest possible point and thus secure the 
maximum net revenue from the sale of his output. 

Some advertising does create new wants; and new wants 
make possible new elements of civilization. Have you ever 
realized that the laborer of to-day enjoys more luxuries than 
the mightiest king of the middle ages ? Ten cents takes you 
to the movies. You drink in with your own eyes the beauties 
of the Alps — a gay scene in Hawaii — a laughing comedy of 
the world's funniest clowns — all in a short evening. Any 




jo keep the Skin \ fresh andl/owra 
"T 



AnJ then 
dcml w.tl 



FAIRY SOAP J 

&: J 



A Fairy Soap advertisement of 
twenty years ago (lower right) and 
one of now. 

Think how this constant educa- 
tion toward cleanliness has glori- 
fied bathing, and has thus aided 
health and morals and the other 
ingredients of civilization. 



FAIRY 
SOAP 




6 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

ancient king would have offered part of his empire to sit for 
one evening in that seat of yours. And the 5-cent weekly 
magazine which you read — so much as a matter of course — 
Julius Caesar would have offered a part of Gaul for as much 
instruction and entertainment as you can absorb, sitting in 
your favorite arm-chair, on a Friday evening. 

Without advertising, that magazine would probably cost 
you its weight in gold. Fifty thousand dollars could not 
buy the mere manuscripts and art-work in a single issue. 
Without advertising, moving-pictures could not have taken 
their present place in human life. Advertising insured to 
moving-picture enterprises a quick volume of business — great 
enough to distribute the giant first-costs over the masses of 
population, thereby making the movies financially available 
to the millions. 

Entertainment and culture have come to the ears of all 
on the wings of music. How much would a Victrola cost 
to-day if advertising had not made possible the present huge 
production, running into hundreds of thousands of talking- 
machines per year? Instead of almost every family having 
Caruso, Mary Garden, Kreisler, Paderewski, and all the 
world's foremost artists in their own homes, only the mil- 
lionaire could afford a talking-machine if advertising had 
not created a well-nigh universal market for mechanical 
music. 

Morals bear a direct relation to mind, and mind is the 
mirror of health. Suppose that none of us cleaned our teeth 
for three years — what would be the state of our health ? 
Suppose no one bathed for three years — would not our bodies 
and minds degenerate? And if health failed, and cleanliness 
ceased, to what level would our morals decline ? 

The advertising of dentifrice and tooth-brushes has taught 
our nation the value and pleasure of tooth hygiene. The 
advertising of soap and plumbing has made us take more 
kindly to bathing. When twenty million men shave them- 
selves each morning to come to breakfast brighter, cleaner, 
and more smiling, is it an exaggeration to say that in this 
respect alone advertising has justified itself sociologically? 



HOW ADVERTISING AIDS CIVILIZATION 7 

The correspondence courses, advanced executive training 
like that of the Alexander Hamilton Institute, the spread of 
good literature, like Doctor Eliot's five-foot book-shelf — all 
these and thousands of other boons are distinct steps forward 
in our civilization, and all are made possible by advertising. 

And in the material needs of man, advertising has given us 
more and better clothes, and homes, and food, because adver- 
tising has helped increase the human capacity for produc- 
tion. Think how your own daily life has been enhanced by 
the tractor, the truck, the plough, the typewriter, the adding- 
machine, the electric light, the stationary engine — the many 
thousands of labor-saving inventions which advertising has 
quickly brought into economical and general use. 

In the crises of civilization advertising now stands shoulder- 
to-shoulder with armies and navies. Could the spirit that 
won the Great War have been inspired without advertising? 
The Red Cross could not have financed its work, the Liberty 
Loans could not have been raised, food-saving could not have 
been inculcated in the people if advertising had not won 
the minds of the millions. 

Like all high-powered agencies, advertising may be danger- 
ous in the hands of the bad. Just as dynamite may be used 
to turn worthless swamps into fields of golden wheat, or may 
be misused to blow up a children's hospital, so is it with 
advertising. But advertising cannot long be misused to 
propagate evil doctrines, for advertising is its own safety- 
valve. 

This is because, just as no worthless product can stand 
advertising for any length of time, so no falsehood can be 
permanently spread by advertising. Publicity sheds a white 
light on that which it promotes, a light so searching as to 
show up, sooner or later, the least rottenness that exists, 
whether it be in a product or propaganda. 



CHAPTER II 

Name-Publicity versus Persuasive- 
Advertising 

Advertising may be roughly divided into two kinds: 

1. Name-Advertising. 

2. Persuasive- Advertising. 



The nature of the product will determine which is the bet- 
ter to use. Name-Advertising simply aims at the familiariza- 
tion and popularization of a name, a slogan, a trade-mark, 
or a package. By employing it the advertiser hopes through 
emphasis to stamp his product on the subconscious mind of 
the consumer. Name-Advertising does not seek any direct 
action. It is content to familiarize — to build up prestige— 
gradually, insidiously, and cumulatively. 

Persuasive-Advertising is quite different in its aim and 
method. While it seeks to establish a familiarity with, and a 
favorable attitude toward, the product advertised — inciden- 
tally to impress its brand and familiarize its name — its great 
purpose is to persuade and to convince. 

Persuasive-Advertising seeks either to get the consumer to 
send for more information, as a step toward an ultimate pur- 
chase, or to get the consumer to go and buy the product 
without further ado— or at least to feel a real desire for that 
particular product in preference to all others in the field ol 
competition. 

Name-Advertising is the kind of advertising which you 
usually see on the bill-boards, on the electric signs, in the 
street-cars, and in other places where the message must be 
read at a glance. Always, it is only suggestive: the name 
of the article is the emphatic key-note of the message. Be- 
yond that it merely hints at some reason why you should 
buy. 

8 



\ 



5H|LjPb.*sf 



^A 



rtnours 

Buying Suggestions 
for August 





Try tArnionr's W?%e& 
C<>rned "Beef 



There are as many words in the 
twenty-year-old Armour advertise- 
ment at lower right, as in the new 
one at top. But the latter is "Per- 
suasive Advertising" — and the old- 
timer is "Name-Publicity." The 
illustrations in the new advertise- 
ment furnish the persuasion. 




10 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 



ich 



Persuasive- Advertising, on the other hand, has to do much 
more than that. It cannot accomplish its purpose by merely 
attracting the eye. It has four functions: 

1. To attract the eye. 

2. To arouse the interest. 

3. To move the judgment. 

4. To open the purse. 

Argument, plus persuasive suggestion — in other words, 
"reason- why" copy — that is what Persuasive- Advertising is 
made of. It must be where it can be read. Its message 
must impel to action. It must carry a stronger, more imme- 
diate appeal, than any mere name-emphasis does. It can- 
not be read on the run. 

An analysis of your product and prospect should determine 
whether you should use Persuasive- Advertising (with "rea- 
son-why" "copy") or Name-Advertising (with merely sug- 
gestive copy). Sometimes an article may need the former 
at first, and later can be successfully promoted through non- 
persuasive — simply suggestive — Name-Advertising. But even 
then, other things being equal, Persuasive-Advertising is pref- 
erable, for by this method to-morrow's sales may pay for 
' to-day's advertising, and good-will, instead of being the mere 
knowledge of a name, may become a public conviction and 
faith concerning the distinctive qualities of the product which 
the name represents. 

The general tendency is toward Persuasive-Advertising, be- 
cause usually this method impresses the trade-name quite as 
well as Name-Advertising, and in addition, by way of excess 
value, plants in the public mind a definite feeling of positive 
favor toward the product advertised. 

"Quaker Oats" used to be "pushed" through Name- 
Publicity. Emphasis of the trade-name was the backbone of 
the advertising. Why not? It sounded reasonable. Every 
family used oats. All that seemed necessary was to shout 
the name "Quaker" loud enough and often enough. But 
the plan shifted, and to-day Quaker products occupy more 
than a million dollars' worth of space each year in magazine 



NAME-PUBLICITY VS. PERSUASIVE-ADVERTISING II 

advertisements which explain in pictures and words just why 
and how Quaker products are cheaper and better than other 
competitive foodstuffs. That is but one of many instances 
where Persuasive-Advertising has been finally preferred. Un- 
der the old method the name occupied 90% of the space. 
Under the new, the name takes only a small fraction ; but still 
it is so prominent that if you but glance at a Quaker Oats 
"ad" you will see the trade-name. Above all, you will re- 
ceive that suggestion, that "reason-why" which persuades as 
well as reminds. 

In fact, competition has necessitated more and better Per- 
suasive-Advertising. In the old days, if you painted the 
name of your soap on elephants' backs, on barn roofs, on 
flat rocks and wooden fences, you were a great advertiser. 
But what chance would soap so advertised have now against 
Lux, and Woodbury's, and Ivory, and the other brands which 
make such intriguing and persuasive "reason-why" appeals? 
Many products are known by name, many products are on 
the lips of the millions — so many, that if yours is not in the 
heart, as well as on the lips of the consumer, it will not be 
bought. 

Emphasize the name certainly; but don't forget that you 
might shout "Jones' Hams" for ever and ever into the ears 
of your prospects, and yet they would think no more favor- 
ably of them. Make the name known, but remember that 
in order to sell you must first persuade. 



CHAPTER III 

The Trade-Mark as a Mental Peg 

Particularly in Name-Advertising, the keystone of any 
campaign is the trade-mark. This may be a coined name 
like "Uneeda," or it may be an actual name like "Ford," 
presented in connection with a distinctive design. 

Especially in the national advertising of a manufacturer, a 
trade-mark is indispensable because the value of such adver- 
tising is not the mere sum of the separate values of each "ad." 
A greater value accumulates and piles up with continuity. 
This is called "cumulative" value. It increases geometrically 
with repetition. The arguments upon arguments — direct and 
indirect — which the advertiser builds up in favor of his goods, 
will fall short of their full efficiency unless they are asso- 
ciated with the trade-name or trade-mark of a particular 
brand of goods. The trade-name and trade-mark form a 
mental peg on which to hang the garments of superiority 
which advertising weaves in favor of the particular article. 

What good would it do the manufacturers of Lux simply 
to advertise the virtues of soap flakes ? They have made 
"Lux" mean soap flakes. In the case of Ivory Soap Flakes, 
the trade-mark is a combination of an old trade-name with 
the actual name of the kind of goods. In the case of a clean- 
ing powder it is "Old Dutch Cleanser" (if the advertiser be 
Cudahy & Company), or it is "Gold Dust" (if the advertiser 
be N. K. Fairbanks). 

Coined trade-names are sometimes so effectively impressed 
that they become parts of our vocabulary. Who would think 
Kodak was a coined name owned by the Eastman Company ? 
And yet it is true — this statement of its significance is given 
by the Eastman Kodak Company: "In 1888 when two 'k's, ' 
an *o,' a 'd,' and an 'a' were first euphoniously assembled 
they meant nothing. Arranged to spell 'Kodak,' they now 

12 



THE TRADE-MARK AS A MENTAL PEG 13 

signify certain products of the Eastman Kodak Company, 
such as Kodak Cameras, Kodak Tripods, and Kodak Film 
Tanks. Kodak is our registered and common-law trade-mark 
and cannot be rightfully applied except to goods of our 
manufacture." 

When trade-marks such as "Kodak" do become bywords 
they are worth fabulous sums. It is said that if Coca Cola 
were to be offered for sale to-day, that name of eight letters 
would bring over $4,000,000 — over half a million dollars per 
letter. The name "Wrigley" in connection with chewing- 
gum is worth almost as many millions as it has letters. Think 
what a byword "Postum" has been made through Per- 
suasive-Advertising, and you will see why any one who enters 
national advertising without a trade-mark which is distinc- 
tive, descriptive, easy to say, easy to remember, and of pleas- 
ant suggestion is very apt to fall short of maximum efficiency. 

"But," as trade-mark attorney D. A. Woodcock has said, 
"no matter how attractive a mark or name may be, it is 
folly to spend money in advertising it unless the advertiser 
is to reap the benefit. If other persons are free to adopt the 
mark, his trade will be stolen and his advertisement will be 
worse than useless. His only safeguard is to select a valid 
trade-mark at the outset." Mr. Woodcock's definition of a 
trade-mark is: "Any symbol applied to goods which identifies 
in the public mind the manufacturer, merchant, or jobber, 
who makes or selects the goods and sells them." Advertis- 
ing alone will not create trade-marks. They must be used 
on the goods sold. The valuable feature of the trade-mark 
is the reputation which it acquires through the belief of the 
public that that trade-mark points to the goods upon which 
it is used as being the product of some particular manufac- 
turer, merchant, or jobber. The part of advertising is to 
link together in the mind of the public the trade-mark, its 
owner, the goods, and the superior qualities of the goods. 

The other aspect of a trade-mark which the law considers 
is its quality of protecting the public against deception. For 
this last reason a trade-mark will not receive registration 
which resembles a trade-mark already adopted, or which 



14 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

describes the goods or their qualities. Such words as these 
have been rejected because considered descriptive: "COM- 
PUTING" for Scales, "ELASTIC SEAM" for Drawers, and 
"FAULTLESS" for Bread as that is supposed to describe 
bread. On the other hand, the word Bond in Bond Bread is 
in the dictionary; but by selecting a name which though de- 
scriptive is not descriptive of bread, by being the first to use 
the name Bond as a mark for bread, by putting that word into 
a distinctive Old English lettering, by associating it with a 
bond guaranteeing the purity of a loaf of bread, the origina- 
tors of that bread are protected; they have not only the 
common-law rights of priority, but also specific registration 
by the government patent office to prevent infringers from 
imitating. 

Other marks which will not usually be protected or regis- 
tered are those which consist merely of the name of an indi- 
vidual, firm, corporation or association not written in a dis- 
tinctive manner, or which consist merely in a geographical 
name or term, like "New York Chocolates," or "New Eng- 
land Mackerel." These marks would ordinarily be the com- 
mon property of all persons bearing similar names, or doing 
business in the same region. 

Other trade-marks which cannot be legally adopted and 
protected are those which consist of or comprise flags or other 
insignia of the United States or other countries, fraternal 
emblems, or portraits of living individuals, without the con- 
sent of the person shown. Many other marks are proper 
subjects for appropriation, but are so commonplace in their ' 
nature as to have two disadvantages: one, that the public 
will not easily remember the mark as indicating a particular 
person or corporation; the other, that it may subsequently be 
discovered that other persons have previously adopted the 
mark and would be able to stop its use. 

Of course, many trade-marks or names violate these rules 
and yet are protected despite that fact. But the establish- 
ment of their validity required years of use, good luck, and 
frequently long and expensive lawsuits. The business man 
who has not yet chosen his trade-mark should not gamble 



THE TRADE-MARK AS A MENTAL PEG 1 5 

upon the chance of equal luck, but should select a good legal 
trade-mark in the first place. 

To insure maximum permanent protection a trade-mark 
should indicate its origin rather than the product itself. For 
instance, a word which has become the name for a certain 
kind of a patented product may not belong to the manufac- 
turer in perpetuity. When the patents ran out on Aspirin, 
this name became available for use by any one who cared 
to manufacture according to the particular formula which 
was known to result in Aspirin. The original manufacturer 
had to change his trade-name from "Aspirin" to "Bayer's 
Aspirin" in order to indicate the product's origin. 

Although "Pierce Arrow" is one of the best trade-names 
in existence (because it combines the idea of speed derived 
from the word "arrow " with the name of the manufacturer), 
the courts would probably not uphold the Pierce Company's 
rights on the name if another manufacturer named Pierce 
wished to make and sell "Pierce" cars. 

The ideal trade-mark is one which consists in an unusual 
design or emblem, or in a novel or fanciful word, such as 
"KEDS" or "UNEEDA." If such a mark is selected, its 
novelty will be the best guarantee that no earlier user has 
acquired it, and the same novelty will lend itself well to 
advertising. 

After a trade-mark has been selected, the next step is the 
application of that mark to the goods or containers, and their 
sale. This must precede any application for registration of 
the trade-mark, and should precede any advertising of the 
mark lest some outsider gain possession of the mark by 
actually using it on a product before the advertiser has done 
so. It is wise to register trade-marks in the U. S. Patent 
Office, for this simplifies the task of preventing infringement; 
but registration only establishes a presumption of the own- 
ership, which is overthrown if another can prove that he was 
the first to use it. Even unregistered marks are protected in 
this country to some extent. In many foreign countries, 
however, any person who registers the trade-mark, rightly or 
wrongly, controls it. 



16 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Advertising prints and labels differ from trade-marks in 
that they are supposed to possess some slight artistic quali- 
ties, and are usually descriptive of the articles upon which the 
labels are to be placed, or in the advertisement of which 
prints are to be used. These should never be published or 
Used without bearing the word "copyright" or the symbol 
©, together with the name of the proprietor. After the 
print or label has been published or used bearing such a 
copyright notice, an application may be made for its regis- 
tration. 

Sometimes a trade-name may brand a whole family of 
products, like Colgate's toilet goods, or Heinz's canned goods, 
preserves, and pickles. There is danger in having too many 
trade-names or trade-marks. It is better to use a general 
trade-name as the common mark of many products. The 
manufacturer who tries to build good-will for several names 
weakens his advertising. Especially is it wasteful to adver- 
tise more than one brand at a time, for then each trade- 
mark so competes against the other that each has less than 
a proportionate chance to make its impression. Many exam- 
ples prove the advantage of concentration. One manufac- 
turer of several brands dropped all but one, and concentrated 
his entire advertising effort upon that one. In this way he 
built a business on a single article of four times the volume of 
his previous business on eight articles. Conversely it is true 
that most manufacturers who have successfully marketed one 
brand have been unsuccessful in trying to market additional 
brands later on. 

A trade-name is practically the same as a trade-mark. 
Technically, the one is a name, the other is a mark, such as a 
seal or a pictorial figure, or some other design inseparably 
associated with the name and the product. But the same 
principles of law govern each. One important point of differ- 
ence is that a trade-mark consisting of an emblem may be 
changed without detracting from good-will. Sometimes it is 
desirable to abandon a trade-mark; for instance, the picture 
of a woman may become so out of style that its continuatiori 
will make the product seem somewhat antiquated. 




Either at home or at the opera 
you hear the greaf^^~* 



Ken Victor Records 



greatest art 

u exper 
?n attending 
c same tarn 



Victor d 
rotrated 



VICTROLA 



Victor Talking Machine Cc 

Camden, New Jersey 




SOUSA, 

The March King, say.s 



VICTOR 

Talking 

Machine 




ELDRIDGE R. JOHNSON, 



Modern advertisement at left. 
One of twenty years ago at lower 
right. 

Notice how trade-mark now con- 
sists of new-coined name "Victrola" plus the old trade figure, the dog. 



i7 



18 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Sometimes an arrow, a triangle, an animal may be as 
strong a property right as a trade-name itself, when it has 
become definitely associated in the public mind with a cer- 
tain kind of product. Like the steel framework in a sky- 
scraper, the trade-name or trade-mark may be the skeleton 
on which the whole structure of public persuasion is built. 
Even a slogan like "it pours" in connection with Morton's 
Salt, "chases dirt" in connection with Old Dutch Cleanser, 
"most miles per dollar" in connection with Firestone Tires, 
"the universal car" in connection with the Ford — even slo- 
gans like these may form the spool on which the thread of 
persuasion is wound. But these slogans are too descriptive 
to be true trade-marks, and can seldom be protected 

Copyright is often confused with "registration" of trade- 
marks. Registration under the Federal Trade-Mark Law 
applies only to trade-marks, trade-names, and kindred sym- 
bols. It means merely a public record that that particular 
trade-mark has been used and is spoken for. Copyright 
applies to pictures or manuscript, whether literary, commer- 
cial, dramatic, photographic, sculptural, informational, ora- 
torical, poetic, topographical, technical, artistic, or what-not. 
Copyright has merely to do with granting exclusive privilege 
for the multiplying of copies of an original publication of any 
character. 

In building a trade-mark, continuity of advertising is a 
prime essential. It is like rolling a barrel up a hill. If you 
stop, now and then, and let the barrel roll back to the bot- 
tom, you will make no progress. No matter how many hours 
you may spend altogether on pushing that barrel up the hill, 
if you do not keep at it you will ultimately be just where you 
started. So it is with making a trade-mark valuable. If you 
advertise like wild-fire for a month, and then drop it for a 
year, you will have to begin all over again; for, in the mean- 
time, the public will have forgotten, and your trade-mark 
will be almost as little known as if you had never made that 
initial advertising expenditure. 



CHAPTER IV 

Analyzing the Problem 

Whether a product be of local or national demand, whether 
it be advertised by retailer or manufacturer, there are cer- 
tain basic elements which will largely determine how it ought 
to be presented: 

What features of the product are worth talking about? 

What qualities of the prospect can be appealed to? 

What medium will be the best avenue through which to 
carry those features of the product to those qualities of the 
prospect ? 

We can answer these questions to a certain degree, if we 
can classify things to be advertised. In general we may say 
article No. I can be successfully advertised by U A" method, 
No. 2 by "B" method, and No. 3 by "C" method. (See 
chart page 28.) 

In the first place, there are many things which must be 
advertised on a price basis, particularly in retail advertising. 
In such effort the aim, method, and result is to undersell the 
other fellow. Such advertising represents great bulk. It is 
the simplest form and open to so little variety in method 
that it is omitted from this general analysis of product and 
prospect. 

Suppose you have to advertise something entirely new. 
Before knowing what to say, how to say it, whether to illus- 
trate it, or where to place your "copy," you must know many 
things discoverable only by analysis of the product to be sold 
and of the prospect to whom you hope to sell. Of course, 
this will not decide all vital questions in regard to how, when, 
and where you should advertise; but, with the exception of 
the class of goods which must rely on cut-price for popularity, 

19 . 



20 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

perhaps these three "pigeon-holes," A, B, C, may include 
almost anything which you may have to present to the pub- 
lic through publicity. 

For instance, take the stock of a professional baseball 
club. Probably the first thought would be to use bulletin- 
boards, painted in nice "June" colors, to intensify the ap- 
peal of the ball park. But if you ask, "How much does the 
public know about this stock?" you will have to admit to 
yourself: "This is an investment proposition. It is not 
familiar to the average citizen. It is a new thing. More- 
over, it is not actively wanted. It is in no way a necessity." 
Your task, then, is to make it known and wanted. To do 
that you have got to put your story where it can be read 
thoroughly. In other words, you could see at a glance that 
this "product" — this baseball stock — falls under the class of 
the ' ' Unknown-Unwanted . ' ' 

Knowing that, you will then have to analyze your pros- 
pective investor. What would be most likely to get his 
attention? Probably "novelty" would be the answer. 
Therefore, "FIRE THE UMPIRE IF YOU WANT TO" 
would be a telling head-line for one of your "ads." It would 
suggest the novelty of the investment. No matter how slight 
his interest might be, that kind of an appeal would suggest 
to any fan the idea that this stock would give him a part in 
the management of the home team. Then, how would you 
accomplish the next step — that of creating desire? Your 
proposition of itself ought to make him want a share or two 
— that is, if he knew something about it; so, if the medium 
used is suitable, description is the next essential. But, in 
addition to that, you must make Mr. Fan seek more informa- 
tion — or, in other words, allow you to talk to him person- 
ally. 

That is to say, your advertising of an unknown — and un- 
wanted — "product" like this should be expected to create 
enough desire to make the prospect seek more information, 
send in his inquiry, or be more receptive to the salesman who 
called. Such advertising should not be expected to pay for 
itself from direct sales resulting from the "ads." 



Jin index at your 
fingers' ends. 



Upper left — an announcement of twenty 
years ago. 

The modern advertisement below is one 
of a series on " io-second filing." 




I'm getting real filing 
service now!'' 

tiOirTCE we installed the "YandK" Direct Name 
vj Filing System, I haven't known what it is to wait 



This is the tribute p.;iu hv a Chicago executive 'name on 
request': to the " Y" and E ".Direct Name Filing System. 

And his opinion is bat one of many. 

Actual time-tests recently made in scores of offices proved 
that with this system an average clerk can find or file a 
letter in less than ten'seeonds. 

The utter simplicity of the system is its secret of speed. 
Breaking i:; a new file clerk becomes a matter of minutes. 

If.>ou are interested in bringing your filing department 
up to this high standard, telephone today for a •' Y anil K *' 
System Service man. 



bo-">kle; "Finding sni KUiag ia Lc 



\awman and Jrbe Mfg. (p, 



R'JCHKSll-.R 



Direct Name 
Filing' System 




%h& 




This illustrates the value of analysis of product and prospect. In this 
case an investigation revealed that the average prospect sought speed in 
filing and finding letters. Note watch in man's hand. 



22 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

There are three broad avenues through which you can 
influence people's decisions as to whether or not to purchase. 
These are: 

II Business (profitability). 

2. Pleasure (pride, joy, etc.). 

3. Weakness (fear, vanity, etc.). 

Of these, business instinct is a considerable element, but it 
has to do with the logical mind, whereas pleasure and weak- 
ness have their source in the feeling; these two gates to sus- 
ceptibility are, therefore, of easier access, and through them 
you can set into action certain processes stronger than the 
logical processes of the mind. 

So you might appeal to your prospect's business instinct 
by showing how this baseball stock ought to pay big divi- 
dends. You might awaken his sense of pleasure by proving 
that it would be gratifying to be "among the first." You 
could suggest to the possible buyer how he would like to hear 
himself remark with pride: "I got a slice of the new baseball 
stock — did you buy any?" And you could appeal to his 
human weakness by giving the stock the atmosphere of a 
toy — something new which would tickle the boyish side of 
the grown-up "fan." 

When your analysis of product and prospect has accord- 
ingly taught you these points, your problem simmers down 
to a choice of whether you should spend your money in 
newspaper, bill-board, street-car space, or otherwise. Of 
course, personal contact would be best, but it would be too 
expensive. Circular letters might be worth while, but their 
cost would be $20 or $30 per thousand of prospects reached, 
whereas the same sized space in a publication would cost 
4o or 5o cents per thousand of people. 

You know from analysis that your advertising has got to 
be of the "reason-why" persuasive variety — that it must be 
descriptive and persuasive, and that thoroughness of treat- 
ment is necessary. For this purpose any medium that is 
read-on-the-run is out of the question. Your advertisement 
must be put where the reader not only merely sees, but also 



ANALYZING THE PROBLEM 23 

looks and reads. Therefore, in "A," in the class of the "Un- 
known-Unwanted," it is necessary to use the newspaper or 
the magazine, or some other medium which is closely read. 
Unless you do put your advertising where it can both suggest 
and actually persuade, then you cannot hope to make known 
the unknown, and to make wanted that which is unwanted — • 
unwanted both as to the specific brand and also as to the 
general class of which it is a part. 

One distinguishing point in a product of this kind is its cost. 

To make a woman buy "This" cake of soap instead of 
"That" (both being the same in price) requires just one re- 
sult, i. e.: 

1. That you make her desire to buy "This" instead of 
"That." 

You do not have to persuade her to spend any money which 
she otherwise would not spend. 

But the "Unknown-Unwanted" product is far from a 
necessity, to get her to buy this entails two tasks: 

1. To make her spend money she otherwise would not 

spend. 

2. To make her buy your particular brand of the thing for 

which you create a desire. 

And even if your product is a necessity, still, if it costs 
more than other similar goods, you may have to use the same 
sort of persuasive advertising as on the products under "A," 
because, in the case of higher-priced products, whether they 
be necessities or luxuries, your task is twofold: 

1. To make the consumer spend MORE than otherwise 

would be necessary. 

2. To make her choose your brand above all others. 

All new products and luxuries go into the pigeon-hole of 
the "Unknown-Unwanted." So do Cutex, Multigraph, En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica, and many others. For such must not 
only make known their names, but also they must establish 
the identity of the species to which they belong. They must 
prove whether they be fish, fowl, or flesh, and then they must 



24 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

show why the possible purchaser ought to have something of 
that species. Unless they monopolize their field they must 
also show why the public should prefer their particular brand 
above all other possible brands of the same type. 

We now come to a class of products which lies in a middle- 
ground. They are neither known nor unknown, neither 
wanted nor unwanted, so let us call them the "Half-Known- 
and-Half-Wanted." For example, take a new automatic 
telephone. This is operated without operators. You turn a 
dial and get your number yourself. You have no one to 
abuse. You can be morally certain as to whether the party 
sought is really busy or not. Though it differs in many 
ways, after all it is a telephone, and, in that fact, is of fair 
familiarity. As to the demand for it, well, it's in the class of 
"Half -Wan ted." 

"You see, I subscribe to a manual phone system now, and 
to put in the automatic phone, also, would require the spend- 
ing of more money than I really have to, and in a way might 
be an unjustifiable duplication." Something like that is the 
average attitude at first. 

Thus, you would find that this product, on analysis, would 
fall under the head of the " Half- Known-and-Half- Wanted." 
It would be but semi-familiar and only passively desired, 
both as to the specific thing itself and also as to the class of 
goods of which it is a part. To win the prospect's attention, 
therefore, your aim should be to prove it a necessity. You 
must explain a great deal. You might, for instance, tell how 
it works. You might show why it works better than other 
things with which it competes. Only thereby can you create 
desire. To start the impulse to action in the prospect, you 
should prove the profitability of your article. You must 
make him feel he'd better have it after all. 

Of the major human incentives, "business instinct" might 
be the best one to which to appeal when advertising this sort 
of product. The business instinct could be aroused in the 
case of the automatic phone, for instance, by showing how 
this service would save money. You could tickle the sense 
of pleasure of your prospective subscriber by getting him to 



ANALYZING THE PROBLEM 25 

feel: "Well, what's the use of my denying myself?" The 
next task would be to play upon his inherent weakness by 
making him feel: "Well, I'll have to get it eventually. I 
guess I might as well sign up for one now." And while ap- 
pealing to his weakness, you might appeal to that most power- 
ful of all his susceptibilities, fear, by suggesting how he might 
fall behind his rivals by not having an automatic phone in 
his store or office. 

Thus, through an analysis of this second class of the "Half- 
Known-and-Half- Wanted," you can tell what features of the 
commodity to emphasize; which appeals will best bring about 
the necessary stages of (1) attention, (2) desire, and (3) 
action. 

Therefore, in advertising products " Half-Known-and-Half- 
Wanted" your copy must be strong with display value, which 
will awaken a potential interest; it must also be persuasive 
with real reasons, designed to create desire; and you must 
use mediums that are more than merely glanced at, for the 
mere flaunting of a name, or a trade-mark, will never create 
desire for the " Half- Known-and-Half- Wanted." You must 
place this kind of advertising in publications which are read 
— the newspapers and the magazines. 

The products which fall within this class are numerous; 
automobiles advertising, for instance, are among the most 
prominent. Here, too, you have usually to make the pur- 
chaser spend money which he otherwise would probably not 
spend, for such products are seldom necessities. To that 
extent this class is the same as the class of the "Unknown- 
and-Unwanted," and is different from the class "C," where 
the kind is really known and wanted, even though the specific 
commodity may be "Unknown as to Brand." 

The main difference between the "Unknown-Unwanted" 
and the " Half- Known-and-Half- Wanted " types, is that in 
the latter class you do not need as much description to ex- 
plain the idea of your product. 

Yet, to make people buy the "Half-Known-and-Half- 
Wanted" commodity you must not only make them want 
the commodity in general — you must also make them want 



26 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

your specific brand. You must first establish a desire for 
something of the same kind as the thing which you adver- 
tise. But, since the desire is half-created to begin with, your 
main task is to make the specific thing which you advertise 
preferable to all others in this class. 

Often a commodity, such as an automatic telephone, or an 
automobile, or a vacuum cleaner, or any patented device, 
may at first belong in the class of the "Unknown-Unwanted." 
As such it may necessitate the most complete description. 
Then, as the commodity becomes better known through ad- 
vertising, it is automatically graduated from that class into the 
" Half-Known-and-Half-Wanted." Then, as something which 
is fairly well-known, it will require more and more emphasis 
as to its special brand rather than in regard to the general 
class of which it is a part. 

Now we come to the class of the " Unknown-by-Brand." 
This name is deceptive, but is the only one that will distin- 
guish this class of products from the two already discussed, 
as well as in regard to just what the advertising must do in 
this case. The title is deceptive because into this class go 
the army of names which have become practically a part of 
the nation's vocabulary. "Uneeda" Biscuit comes under 
this class, with "Sapolio" and all the other well-known 
cleaners. 

Although " Unknown-by-Brand " may, therefore, appear a 
paradoxical name, it is used to suggest that the thing is not 
" Unwanted," and, that the sole object of the advertising is 
to change " Unknown-by-Brand " into "By-Brand, Weil- 
Known." All products whose utility and general properties 
are utterly familiar, and which are actively wanted, fall under 
this heading. They require no educational work. They sim- 
ply seek popularization, which repetition of name can pro- 
vide. You don't have to tell the public that "Old Dutch" 
is a cleaner. You need not play up the advantages of scour- 
ing the steps in front of your home. In advertising such a 
brand, which is part of a species recognized as a necessity, 
your main task is to make the name of your particular kind 
so well-known that automatically the woman, on going into 






ANALYZING THE PROBLEM 2J 

the store for something of that kind, will call for your special 
brand. 

In other words, the element which you should emphasize 
in order to gain attention should be the name itself. You 
may build up its attention value as they originally did with 
Sapolio, by connecting it up with so many different things as 
to make the name each time enjoy the notice that novelty 
always elicits. And, where the chief task is the building up 
of a special brand of a needed commodity, you can create 
desire simply through repetition. You must drum the name 
in, time after time, until finally, by suggestion, you get the 
housewife to ask for your brand instinctively rather than for 
the one that your competitor has to sell. 

You need not make the buyer spend money that she other- 
wise would not spend. You do not have to change her ten- 
dencies or convictions a great deal, in order to switch her 
over to your brand. To get action you must simply per- 
suade the consumer to try your kind the next time she 
buys. 

If you do succeed in getting her to try your brand, it is 
not so much through any appeal to her business instinct. 
The commercial profit to her in using your cleansing powder, 
for instance, instead of the other fellow's, is usually negligible. 
The pleasure element is her main point of susceptibility. 

You might particularly appeal to her on the suggestion 
that it would be fun to try this new kind of yours. Thus her 
weakness would be your best point of attack. Your ammuni- 
tion might be, for instance: "Eventually, why not now?" 
Your aim would be to make her say to herself: "What's the 
use of putting this off; I'll use this thing some day. I guess 
I will try it the next time I am at the grocer's." 

Your main task in advertising products in this class is, 
therefore, to drive home the name. Argument is not neces- 
sary. In fact, some advertisers of this kind of product argue 
in this way: "If we gave reasons why, we would probably 
use our space in unprepossessing type-matter. If, instead of 
that, we use an eye-catching illustration, or an attention-com- 
pelling display of the name, then, with the same expenditure, 



28 



A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 



GENERAL ANALYSIS OF PRODUCT AND PROSPECT 



(This chart is merely suggestive, and is not to be taken as a literal gauge for sizing up 
a product. Every product is surrounded by a different set of conditions, and, 
therefore, requires an individual analysis. This form may help, but its purpose is 
merely to set forth the idea and to stimulate advertising analysis.) 



Class of Product 


Luxuries 

or Products 

" Unknown-and- 

Unwanted" 


Half-Necessities 

or Products 

" Half-Known-and- 

Half- Wanted" 


Necessities* 

Needed, but 

"Unknown as 

to Brand" 


Examples 


Washing-Machines 


Automobiles 


Cigarettes 


How to Secure 
Prospect's 

(i) Attention: 

(2) Desire: 

(3) Action: 


CLASS A 


CLASS B 


CLASS C 


Suggest novelty. 


Show necessity. 


Emphasize name. 


Describe virtues. 


Explain details. 


Repeat suggestion. 


Offer further infor- 
mation. 


Prove its profita- 
bility. 


Secure a trial pur- 
chase. 


How to Appeal to 
Prospect's Sus- 
ceptibilities 

(1) Business: 

(2) Pleasure: 

(3) Weakness: 


CLASS A 


CLASS B 


CLASS C 


Show how to make 
money. 


Show how to save 
money. 


Show it costs no 
more. 


Invite to "Be one 
of first." 


Suggest folly of 
self-denial. 


Intimate that "It's 
fun to try it." 


Give it flavor of 
new toy. 


Argue they'll "Get 
it eventually." 


Inquire "Why not 
change?" 


In Applying Above, 
What to Use by 
Way of 

Copy: 
Medium: 


CLASS A 


CLASS B 


CLASS C 


Persuasive - adver- 
tising, plus de- 
scription, plus 
reasons why. 


Persuasive - adver- 
tising, plus rea- 
sons why and 
name-emphasis. 


Name-Publicity — 
with display pre- 
dominant. 


Mediums that are 
closely read — 
such as news- 
papers or maga- 
zines. 


Mediums that are 
read — such as 
newspapers or 
magazines. 


Mediums that are 
seen — almost 
any medium. 



* Necessities which must sell for considerably more than average price come under 
Class A or Class B, rather than Class C, as they require the spending of more money 
than would otherwise be spent. 



ANALYZING THE PROBLEM 29 

we can so much more effectively force our brand into the 
reader's consciousness." 

In other words, "Name-Publicity" can be used for this 
class of goods. Suggestion can be accomplished through al- 
most any medium — whether it be painted sign, street-car 
card, or poster. In fact, any kind of advertising, including 
magazine and newspaper, may be successfully used in this 
kind of endeavor to establish a specific brand. But even in 
such cases "Persuasive- Advertising" is usually better than 
mere "Name-Publicity," because it permits of adequate 
name display, plus copy which contains real interest and sell- 
ing suggestion. 



CHAPTER V 

What Words Work Best on the Prospect 

"Psychology" is a word that is often used in connection 
with advertising and selling. Usually it is loosely used. 
Sometimes it is the false weapon of the superficial, who seek 
to impress through the use of " highfalutin " terms. "Psy- 
chology" would not be used here at all, if it could be avoided, 
but it is necessary, not to impress or to mystify, but simply 
as a nickname for the briefest possible description of an 
important phase of advertising analysis. Psychology here 
means simply the analysis of mental processes, a study of 
how the human mind works; the word "mind" comprehends 
feeling as well as thought, for feelings, emotions, more fre- 
quently impel to action than purely intellectual processes. 

"Copy" means advertising matter prepared for the me- 
chanical processes of publication which precede its presenta- 
tion in the newspaper, or magazine, or on signs, or wherever 
it is to appear. The word comes from newspaper parlance, 
in which news- writers refer to their writings as "copy," and 
in connection with advertisments "copy" bears the same re- 
lation as "MS." bears to a finished book. 

The "Psychology of Copy" therefore means an analysis 
of advertising manuscript in its relation to the workings of 
the human mind and feelings. If you can analyze your pros- 
pects in the light of some such plan as that suggested in the 
previous chapter, you will know what phases of the human 
make-up to appeal to. You will, moreover, know what to 
emphasize, if you use a similar analysis to pick out the prod- 
uct's points of appeal. 

"How to get these arguments into the prospect's mind 
through the avenues of least resistance," that is the next 
question. This need not be done in words alone. Some of 

30 



WHAT WORDS WORK BEST ON THE PROSPECT 3 1 

the most expressive language of the day is that of newspaper 
cartoons; pictures, in fact, sometimes describe better than 
words. The general appearance of an advertisement alone is 
often eloquent. As the flaming red tie and checker-board 
suit on the gambler announce the manner of the man as 
clearly as if he wore a sign on his back saying: "I am a pro- 
fessional sport," so does the dignity of " Pierce-Arrow " adver- 
tising, through the atmosphere it lends, bespeak luxury, grace, 
elegance, and stability. 

Need it be said that you should use language which your 
prospect can understand? We all know that; yet, the mo- 
ment we hold our pen poised, ready to write a message to the 
public, we are tempted to use big words. Deep down we all 
in some degree resemble the proverbial colored parson, who 
impresses his flock with words of many syllables which his 
parishioners cannot understand. These words sometimes 
make a good general impression, and cause the flock to respect 
their leader as one who is learned and cannot be gainsaid. In 
certain cases long words may therefore be the very best kind 
of advertising — for the parson. But in advertising you are 
confronted by one of the hardest obstacles that human nature 
offers: you must persuade people to spend money — to part 
with that which their toil has brought them. This you can 
only do with words they fully comprehend. 

First of all, your prospects must understand what you are 
saying. How, otherwise, can you hope to budge them? 
You must more than persuade. You must inspire people to 
action — to the action of spending their money for your goods. 
Language suggestive of action is necessary. Certain princi- 
ples to be applied in selecting words reveal themselves in the 
following comparison of two sentences: "Of momentous emol- 
ument to the populace of this metropolis, and environs, would 
it be to participate in our semi-annual merchandising event." 
Here, almost every word is sprung from Greek or Latin roots. 
"You can save money at this twice-a-year sale." This last 
sentence, whose superiority in effect is obvious, is made up 
of short familiar words. In the choice of words avoid ad- 
jectives whenever possible. After you have written an "ad," 



32 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

scrutinize all those words which qualify , and consider in each 
case: "Does this have to be an adjective? Can a verb ex- 
press the same idea as well?" If so, you are lucky, because 
verbs swing the reader along, whereas adjectives are passive. 
For example, compare the effect of the verb "swing" with 
that of the adjective "passive" in the preceding sentence. 

Study the style used by the leading writers of works that 
inspire, to learn what diction is the most effective in adver- 
tising. 

Tricky writing will not do. A "cleverism" calls atten- 
tion to itself and away from that which you seek to sell. It 
also detracts from sincerity. It is artificial. The sincerest 
and simplest copy is the strongest. 

One prominent advertising man keeps a Bible in the top 
drawer of his desk, and turns to it frequently for ideas and 
for style. "The greatest advertising copy ever written," 
says another leading man in the profession, "is found in the 
public utterances of Abraham Lincoln, for he could make 
ten words do the work of one hundred — and he filled logic so 
full of warmth that it caught the heart as well as won the 
mind." 

The best way to get to your reader through advertising 
"copy" is the simple way; that is, as a rule; for, although 
simple language is almost always best, there are a few excep- 
tions when conditions may require different treatment. For 
instance, in the advertisement of something of exclusive class, 
when directed to a few who can understand polysyllabic 
words — people who buy for prestige rather than for business- 
like reasons of price and quality — you may be better able to 
persuade if you use the superb elegance of lofty language and 
delicate indirection. But to the millions you must talk "tur- 
key." And you must put what you say in terms that will 
not only reach their understanding, but their feelings. 

What interests most people most? Their own personali- 
ties. A man is willing to hear about himself and his own 
interests all day long; but his ear soon tires if you tell him 
the story of your life. 

"You," then, is perhaps the best word in the advertising 



WHAT WORDS WORK BEST ON THE PROSPECT 33 

writer's vocabulary. Surely you can get a man's attention 
best with "you copy." You certainly can interest him best 
with what is called "you copy," and how can you convince 
him, and get him to act, if your persuasion is not of the "you" 
kind? But you can put this quality into your "copy" with- 
out ever using the word "you." All you need to do is to 
make your "copy" personal. Read any article or story in 
a successful magazine. Why does it grip you ? Because it is 
talking about you; the hero's name may be Bill Brown, but 
you can see yourself in his place. He is a plumber, not a 
lawyer — but how like yourself he is. And those "Hints for 
Your Office" — how did that author know the conditions in 
your own business? Very little is said about the success of 
the magazine, for that would be "I" copy, not "You" copy. 

There are different ways of putting the magnet of "You" 
into your advertising. One of these is by localization. For 
instance, when you see "United States" you don't feel that 
you are included. If you see the name of your State you are 
a little more interested. If you see the name of your locality 
you are still more interested. The mention of your own 
name, or of some peculiarity in connection with you or your 
circle, is what interests you most of all. So, if you live in 
Smithville, and an "ad" begins "Of the 1,800 Folk in Smith- 
ville," you are far more likely to read on than if the head- 
line said "ATTENTION." 

By localizing "copy," you can personalize it — personalize 
it in the second person, and so inject the "you" quality, even 
if you do not use that particular pronoun. 

The most usual violation of this principle is where the 
merchant or manufacturer falls victim to the persuasion of 
some one who would write up his business. This gentleman 
forthwith plucks from his imagination some possible connec- 
tion, either of name, historic association, or something of that 
kind, with which to link the name of Smith — his pro tern, 
employer. That done, he sets forth to glorify that incident 
with which he has coupled the name of Smith. He is thereby 
able to create flowers of eloquence in eulogy of the man who 
is paying for the "ad"; and the more this kind of an "ad" 



34 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

writer glorifies the man's business, the better pay he gets for 
his literary creation. 

But where are the head and tail of this kind of "copy"? 
What is the aim? Does the manufacturer want to charge 
the cost of this advertising in with selling expense ? Or does 
he want to put it down among the "incidentals" and justify 
it through the fact that his wife will be able to show it to her 
friends. If the "ad" is for selling purposes, why doesn't it 
tell people why they should buy of Smith ? The few who 
care enough about Smith to enjoy such reading will buy from 
him anyway. It's the people who do not care whether your 
name is Smith or Perkins, but who will buy from you if they 
feel that you will give them better value, they are the ones 
whom you must address. Otherwise your advertising cannot 
be justified — at least, not on any basis of business. 

As a great publisher has said: "Men are most interested 
in themselves, their possessions, their own wants or accom- 
plishments. In business it is still largely meum — my factory, 
my wares, my styles, when I was established, my floor space, 
my thousands of employees. In good advertising it is conse- 
quently tuum — your wants, your wishes, your opportunity. 
Few women are interested in factories, process, or raw mate- 
rials and machinery. Most women think from the counter 
out. In advertisements there should be more tuum and less 
meum." 

Certainly there have been some advertising successes based 
on the "I" method; but that was when competition in adver- 
tising was not as keen as now. To launch the same product 
to-day with those same self- vaunting "ads" would be fatal 
to success. Yet there are manufacturers who honestly believe 
that the name of the manufacturer should be given first prom- 
inence in the display. 

"Yes," we should reply to them, "we admit that your 
name is an asset, but your public knows who makes your 
product, and that knowledge in itself secures the maximum 
benefit that is possible from your name. In other words, 
that asset is conserved just as well, even if you don't give 
your name first prominence." 



At right, an advertisement of 1900. Below, 
a modern page. (Note the prominence of trade- 



name in the former.) 




To make your skin 
noticeably lovely — give it 
the regular care it had when you were a 

w 



For ^5^/ 

Baby's Skin 



,*»| Woodbury's 
Facial Soap 



THE ANDREW JfcRGENS CO., 

Sol.- A^nts, Cincinnati, 0. 



&=*» 







The "ad" at left is interesting, especially in its lack of name-emphasis. 
"The reason why some advertisers eliminate the logotype .entirely is be- 
cause every display of the name will have one of two effects on the reader: 
(a) The reader will see the name and assume that he knows all about the 
product. This reader is lost, (b) The reader may have a preconceived 
dislike for the product and upon seeing the name ahead of the message 
will pass on to the next page. This reader is also lost." 



35 



36 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

There are two great disadvantages against overemphasiz- 
ing the manufacturer's name: 

1. By giving the manufacturer's name as much emphasis 

as the name of the product, you have to promote 
two things instead of one. In other words, you 
complicate the name — and cut down the effective- 
ness of the message. 

2. From the standpoint of results, the most successful ad- 

vertising is the advertising which features the manu- 
facturer least. This is not true of a store, but it is 
true of a product, because of the simple fact that 
the public is more interested in itself than it is in 
the manufacturer. The "first person" of the man- 
ufacturer is of little interest to the public. 

Failure to realize this was evident in advertising of some 
years ago, which was based on some such theme as "Smith's 
Bread is Best." The public, without knowing it, thought: 
"Of course, Smith thinks his bread is best — but with so many 
other breads in the world, it can't be the best, and Smith 
must be just lying a little bit." In other words, that kind 
of advertising was neither interesting nor plausible; therefore 
it lacked the quality of persuasion. 

To dominate a piece of copy with the maker's name elimi- 
nates the possible intrigue of that copy, and so weakens its 
chance of interesting the consumer. On seeing an advertise- 
ment plastered over with "Smith," the reaction is likely to 
be: "Oh! there is another ad of Smith, the Baker. I will 
pass on to something else." 

On the other hand, upon seeing an advertisement that is 
designed in the interest of the reader rather than that of the 
manufacturer, the reaction is more likely to be something 
like: "Here is a nice-looking little lad. He seems to be 
healthy, and reminds me in a way of my sister's boy. He is 
eating bread and jam, and it says there: 'It's supper-time.' 
You know, that's a good idea. I have often told Minnie not 
to let her child eat pork and beans, when the best food is 
good bread and jam — and Smith's bread is certainly good." 






WHAT WORDS WORK BEST ON THE PROSPECT 37 

In either case, if the eye looks at an "ad," it will see what 
is advertised, whether the name takes up half the "ad " or 
only a tenth part of it. And if the " ad " is designed upon lines 
of interest and persuasion, the eye is likely to get something 
out of it besides the mere name of the product. 

Of course, sometimes, when the name of the manufacturer 
is also the name of the thing, like Heinz Pickles or Ford 
Cars, the manufacturer's name cannot be suppressed. 

And yet there is this interesting fact about a famous soap, 
named after its manufacturer, which is advertised in women's 
magazines: The manufacturer thought the name of the soap 
should have greater prominence in the full-page advertise- 
ments. These were designed to persuade the reader in favor 
of this soap, and also to get her to send in a few cents for a 
sample. To settle the argument, one of the magazines agreed 
to run its edition of a certain month in two divisions. In the 
first, the "ad" was printed with a large name-plate. In the 
second, the trade-name was printed ever so much smaller. 
The result was that the "ads" with the smaller name-plate 
"outpulled" the others four to one. Why? Because there 
was four times less "you" quality in the copy that was plas- 
tered so prominently with the "I" of the manufacturer. 

Above all else, copy should be human. This fact has been 
expressed by that most human master of persuasion, Abra- 
ham Lincoln, who said: 

"If you would w T in a man to your cause, first convince him 
that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that 
catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the greatest 
highroad to his reason, and which, when once gained, you 
will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the 
justice of your cause, if, indeed, that cause really be a just 
one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgment, 
or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned 
or despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the 
avenues to his head and heart; and though your cause be 
naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder 
than steel and sharper than steel can be made, and though 
you throw it with more than herculean force and precision, 



38 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

you shall be no more able to pierce him than to penetrate the 
hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw. Such is man, and 
so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even 
to his own interests." 



CHAPTER VI 

Suggestion — The Motive Power of 
Advertising 

"Men should be taught as though you taught them not": 
that, from Alexander Pope, is the golden principle of adver- 
tising. In other words, advertising copy gains potency from 
an emotional rather than from a logical quality — its best 
weapon is example, not precept — its method is suggestion 
rather than instruction. Suggestion is the basis of successful 
advertising. And what is suggestion? As defined by the 
psychologist it is the imparting of "an idea or emotion lead- 
ing direct to favorable action." In fact, it is the art oi get- 
ting the other person to tell himself. 

Although the mechanics of suggestion are fairly simple, 
the art of suggestion is among the most difficult of arts. 
Suggestion is possible because the mind inclines to believe 
every idea, unless it is contradicted. The ideas that enter 
the mind through suggestion are uncontradicted, and are, 
therefore, more fully persuasive. 

But to understand how to use suggestion, the mind must 
be considered as if divided into two main parts: 

1. The logical mind (the intellect). 

2. The feeling mind (the imagination). 

The intellect works in logical processes. It is the judicial 
department of the mind. It picks flaws. It weighs one thing 
against another. It disbelieves until persuaded by sheer 
force of logic and cold fact. Argument, the logical brand of 
argument, in the form of brief or in citation of authority, is 
the one process by which the intellect may be captured. 

But the intellect is not much worth winning; its influence 
upon the question of what a person shall purchase is slight. 

39 



40 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Almost everything we buy appeals rather to our imaginative 
mind, or our instinctive mind. Possibly some purchasing 
agents, possibly some engineers, now and then some business 
men, may buy as a result of the conclusions which have been 
reached in their logical minds through the cold consideration 
of facts. But in nine cases out of ten, the average person, the 
consumer, buys largely through instinct, largely through feel- 
ing; in other words, the buying impulse is almost entirely 
actuated by the feeling mind, or the imagination, as 'we shall 
call it, rather than by the intellect. Cold argument, there- 
fore, seldom sells goods. The appeal must reach the imagi- 
nation. That is why suggestion rather than instruction, ex- 
ample rather than precept, concrete picture rather than 
abstract generalization, are the things of which good advertis- 
ing is made. 

The brain is supplied by five sources, the five senses — hear- 
ing, feeling, smelling, seeing, tasting. Of these, all except 
"hearing," automatically work by means of suggestion. (Un- 
der hearing we include reading, because reading is only 
another form of hearing.) When we physically feel a thing, 
we tell ourselves about that thing. Our conclusions register 
in our intellect and our imagination through suggestion; and 
feeling is believing. When we smell a thing, we also find that 
our main mental stimulus is by way of suggestion ; and smell- 
ing is believing. When we see a thing, it is the same way; 
and seeing is believing. And when we taste a thing, we 
throw up no contradiction against that sense. And tasting 
is believing. But to hear is not to believe, and to read is 
not to believe. 

Therefore when we hear or when we read, that which 
comes into our minds is second-hand experience; it is not 
our own experience. The sentinels of our mind seek to con- 
tradict everything that would enter there through the spoken 
word or the printed page. But if what we hear or what we 
read is surcharged with things we can feel or smell or see or 
taste, then we are more likely to believe, more likely to be 
persuaded, because then the message enters our "feeling" 
mind, or our imagination, and it is less likely to be contra- 



The 



Remington 

Typewriter 



lias Jfvi 
the 




Lightest Touch 



that saves labor; and does the 

quickest work that saves time. 

Time and labor saved by the 

REMINGTON*. 

Wyckofl, Scam.ms .t Benedict, New York 



At top left, an advertisement of 
twenty years ago. It simply asserts — 
and makes superlative claims. How 
much more persuasive is the modern ad- 
vertisement below ! 



I 



iVf 



i 




\ 



This Is the Time 
Choose a Business Career 




Remington Typewriters 



The above "ad" sells through serving — its persuasion is based on help- 
ing young women to find careers. It seems to emphasize employment, 
but, by indirection, it builds good-will for the machine. 

41 



42 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

dieted, more likely to carry persuasion because it has regis- 
tered upon the buying motives. 

But the great question is how to achieve suggestion. In 
advertising there are these three principal ways of harnessing 
this great force: 

1. By appearance. 

2. By demonstration. 

3. By diction. 

Consideration of the value of " appearance" brings us face 
to face with the fact that Impression is nine-tenths of per- 
suasion. How does the advertisement look when you first 
glance at it? What is its personality? Does it suggest the 
motive that will make you buy? If it seeks to sell fishing- 
tackle, does it make you feel the lure of the trout stream? 
Does it suggest value ? Does it suggest quality ? Is it clean- 
looking and inviting? 

In considering the value of "demonstration" we find that 
the picturing of a product in the proper way achieves con- 
siderable persuasion. Of course, the visible object itself 
would do better, but the very illustration of it also suggests, 
and, therefore, persuades. And when we present this object 
at work, we tend to increase its power of suggestion, which 
helps to make the reader tell himself what you wish him to 
believe. Take a washing-machine. In itself it is a clumsy- 
looking piece of machinery. Picture it at work, and the 
woman can hear the swish of the water, can smell the soapy 
cleanliness, can almost feel and see the crisp, clean, laundered 
clothes as they come off the line. 

An illustration may be definitely suggestive in depicting 
an act which you wish the reader to imitate. For instance, 
down near the coupon you may put the picture of a hand 
holding a fountain-pen, or you may illustrate a hand with a 
pair of shears, apparently in the act of clipping the coupon. 
One principle is that the human mind will obey by imitation 
any suggested act, unless it checks itself. It is this fact 
which makes such illustrations persuasive. 

But through the method of "demonstration we have cer- 






SUGGESTION— THE MOTIVE POWER OF ADVERTISING 43 

tain ways of using suggestion, other than those that act 
through word and picture. Actual demonstration, showing 
an object at work, is not only potent in attracting the human 
eye, but also in persuading. Sampling is based upon this 
principle, since it clearly enables the prospect to convince 
herself; and when the sampling takes the form of tasting, it 
may reach perhaps the highest point of persuasiveness through 
suggestion. 

But the chief medium of advertising is language. It is by 
diction that suggestion can be made to play its most impor- 
tant part. The selection and phrasing of words so as to 
create desire is the highest art in the function of advertising. 
In the main, advertising words should paint pictures; they 
should touch emotional chords; they should play upon the 
feelings. Advertising words should aim at the imagination 
through the avenues of sight, smell, taste, and sensation; and 
if the subject is a product that is to please the ear, such as a 
talking-machine, the diction should appeal to the hearing, or 
should carry the suggestion of the human voice or the chim- 
ing bell, or the whispering violin. To choose the "concrete" 
is probably the main secret in achieving a diction that vibrates 
with persuasive suggestion. The human mind can conceive 
no pictures made of generalities, but it can visualize that 
which has shape or taste or weight or sound. Suggestive 
diction has more power in the message that it registers on 
the mind. It is also a tonic to attention. It is entertaining. 
It requires less effort on the part of the reader, for it puts into 
operation fewer mental processes. It transmits its meaning 
direct to the imagination, or the emotional part of the brain, 
without encountering the judicial scrutiny of the intellect or 
logical mind. To achieve Suggestion, you must choose 
specific words, instead of general words. A general word in- 
cludes a number of ideas; a specific word names one idea. A 
general word names a class of objects; a specific word singles 
out from the class an individual. It is interesting to the 
public to know that you offer sail-boats made of "hard- 
wood," but your prospect could picture your product more 
definitely if you used the word "mahogany." 



44 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Suggestion is also achieved by the use of figurative words. 
These are words used suggestively rather than in their literal 
sense. Instead of saying: "The finish of this car shines 
bright for years," suppose we say: "Its mirror-like finish will 
hold its youth indefinitely." Isn't the second choice of words 
somewhat stronger? "Bright" is literal; we all understand 
it. "Mirror-like" tells how the car looks. Everybody has 
seen a shining automobile, but it is striking to compare it to 
a looking-glass. And instead of its lasting "for years," to 
say it has "youth" is to remind the reader of human strength 
and grace. The words "mirror-like" and "youth" are not 
used to say precisely what they mean, but to suggest resem- 
blances. 

Comparisons, when used to carry suggestion, are known as 
"figures of speech." Comparisons between objects of the 
same kind do not involve figures of speech, such, for example, 
as: "This street is more beautiful than that"; "This water 
tastes like well water"; "Foch was as great a general as 
Joffre." They suggest nothing, they are literal, they are 
merely comparisons. But if these comparisons indicated 
points of similarity between objects of different kinds, then 
they would be either "similes" or "metaphors." The "sim- 
ile" is more direct and usually demands the use of the word 
"like" or "as." For instance, if you say, "This will make 
your ice-cream as smooth as velvet," your figure of speech 
is called a "simile." It definitely and explicitly points out a 
resemblance. If we make the comparison so indirect that 
the reader must infer the resemblance, we call such a figure 
of speech "metaphor." For instance, it is metaphorical to 
say: "These electric lamps are a balm to the eyes." A meta- 
phor spreads the meaning of the name of one thing over the 
name of another thing — by implication. 

Another way of making a thought specific and concrete, 
instead of general, is through "metonymy." By this figure 
of speech we substitute one thing for another which the mind 
automatically associates with it. For instance, when we say 
"The screen is more eloquent than the pulpit," we mean that 
moving-pictures are more convincing than verbal sermons. 



SUGGESTION— THE MOTIVE POWER OF ADVERTISING 45 

But we automatically associate "screen" with the movies, 
and we automatically associate "pulpit" with sermons, so 
we can carry over our suggestion and picture our thought in 
terms of the concrete and the specific. 

Possibly the most common method of carrying suggestion 
is through the figure of speech known as "personification." 
Personification usually includes "metaphor," or "metonymy," 
or both. It is called "personification" when it gives person- 
ality to things that are not persons. For example, a motor- 
truck is called "The big brother of the railroads" — a soap is 
personified by the slogan, "Have you a little Fairy in your 
home?" — a cleaning powder is personified by the head-line, 
"Let the Gold Dust Twins do your work." 

There are other varieties of the figure of speech, but they 
are mostly adaptations of these three fundamental forms 
which are described above, i. e.: 

1. Similes and metaphors. 

2. Metonymy. 

3. Personification. 

All such figures of speech are strong, or weak, in proportion 
to their naturalness. The simplest and most natural figures 
carry the strongest mental pictures. When a picture is far- 
fetched, the reader is more apt to think of its cleverness than 
to conceive the picture which the figure seeks to convey. 
Figures that are built on common experience are the ones 
that breathe life and give force to our thoughts. 

Suggestion is also dependent upon the general structure of 
our advertising copy. There are four general plans for build- 
ing an advertisement. These are: 

1. Narration. 

2. Description. 

3. Exposition. 

4. Argument. 

Of course, the story form is probably the most alluring and 
has the greatest power of suggestion. The incident is the 
basis of good narration. We all see things happen that we 



46 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

remember and tell about. The method that we use in nar- 
rating these incidents is the best method for the use of narra- 
tion in advertising. In our narration we may frequently stop 
the active course of our story and begin to describe some- 
thing. For instance, we may say: "At that moment, the 
chimes of a neighboring church began to peal forth the tune 
of 'Nearer, my God, to Thee.' He stopped the roadster. 
The man and the woman raised their eyes and saw the saintly 
spire as it towered against the clouds with a white cross 
atop its pinnacle like a lily flower on a slender stem." 

Descriptions of this kind usually enrich narration, particu- 
larly if the description "paints a picture," even though it 
be merely one of words. But to clarify description, you 
must make sure of your perspective. A description should 
always have a definite point of view. In the above descrip- 
tion (which, by the way, is somewhat extravagant, in order to 
emphasize the method) the point of view is from the seat of 
the automobile, where sit the two persons who are the subject 
of the narration. Of course, description is more frequently 
used by itself, not as part of a narration. 

Exposition is the usual method of explaining a thing. For 
instance, according to this method we tell how a safety-razor 
works. If you described how the safety-razor was invented, 
that would be a narration. If you described the parts of the 
safety-razor and its general appearance, that would be de- 
scription. But when you explain the use of the article, that 
is exposition. In other words, description tells how a thing 
looks, whereas exposition sets forth the meaning of a thing, 
or explains the use of it. 

Argument is probably the least effective method in advertis- 
ing, because it usually appeals to the intellect rather than the 
imagination, and it is therefore susceptible to antagonism and 
to contradiction. Argument should seldom, if ever, be used 
in advertising, as it is likely to be devoid of suggestion, and, 
therefore, lacking in persuasiveness. 






CHAPTER VII 

Ways to Win Attention 

The easiest approach, then, to your prospect's mind and 
heart is through an appeal to his interest. But before you 
can reach your possible customer with this appeal, you must 
make him read, or at least see, what you have to say. 

The element that will enable you to attract his attention 
is Display. It is probably the most important single factor 
in all advertising, because no advertising succeeds unless it 
gets attention. 

Display is of two kinds: 

1. Eye-Display. — The mechanical kind that simply catches 
the physical eye regardless of any action of the reader's mind. 

2. Mind-Display. — The psychological kind, which wins at- 
tention through the fact that it calls forth some active men- 
tal interest in the prospect's mind or feelings. 

There are, in general, six different ways in which Eye- 
Display may be accomplished: 

1. Contrast. 

2. Beauty. 

3. Illustration. 

4. Color. 

5. Size. 

6. Motion. 

Contrast may consist of an eye-compelling, attractive bor- 
der, or any number of eye arresters, such as an unusual shape. 
Take, for example, a want-ad page in a newspaper observed 
from a distance. Doesn't it seem gray and flat? Now take 
a little "ad" in the centre of that page. Rule it off with 
heavy black lines an eighth of an inch thick. The box- 
border will make that one-inch ad stand out so strongly that 

47 



48 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

it will have as much display value as would an ordinary "ad" 
of many times its size. Contrast is what does it. 

Or, Eye-Display can be accomplished through other means 
of contrast. For instance, suppose you surround your mes- 
sage with white space. This lack of typography in the vicin- 
ity of your advertisement is so unusual that it will also catch 
the eye. Thus it will possess Eye-Display value of high 
power. You often see this method used with great effect — 
but if every one used big splashes of white space, it would 
be of little value — because it would lose the quality of con- 
trast. 

Sometimes Eye-Display may be achieved through sheer 
beauty. But this must be more than negative beauty, be- 
cause the average eye is not sensitive to aesthetic values. The 
element of beauty must be more than pleasing if it is to win 
attention. It must also have force — force enough to draw 
the eye and grip the attention, and so will probably involve 
the use of an illustration. 

The illustration certainly stands first and foremost as an 
instrument of attraction, either for the eye or the mind. The 
world's first language was made up of pictures; and the human 
eye and mind still continue to prefer illustrations to mere 
reading matter. 

Two other big elements in Eye-Display are Color and Size, 
both of which have a certain influence on the intensity of any 
message. 

Color attracts — this is an axiom of nature. There is a 
color-hunger in every eye; an advertisement in colors is sought 
out. Then, too, colored advertisements are unusual, and 
enjoy, in that respect, a contrast with the bulk of black-and- 
white advertising. But even if a certain magazine carried 
ninety-nine advertisements in color and only one in black- 
and-white, the ones in color would still be worth considerably 
more — and would pull better — just as they do to-day. 

So, also, with size — size itself achieves Eye-Display. Just 
as a great redwood-tree, or a whale, commands more than 
usual attention — so large size is a tremendous element in the 
Eye-Display of advertising. Motion has a like power. In 



WAYS TO WIN ATTENTION 49 

mechanical display signs, where motion can be an element, 
the attention value is many times what it is in similar signs 
which have no moving features. 

But Eye-Display, although it may be the most important 
of all elements, must not be emphasized to the sacrifice of 
favorable impression. Often the far-fetched use of a repul- 
sive display combination may spoil the power of the adver- 
tisement. And Beauty, or, at least, freedom from repellent 
ugliness, is necessary. 

"Good appearance" is a plank that every advertiser should 
have in his working platform. When you are tempted to 
combine a screaming yellow with a flaming red, resist. Don't 
ruin the persuasive ability of your work simply in order to 
make your "ad" attract more eyes. Favorable attention is 
the only kind worth striving for. 

Good Eye-Display should not only increase the attention- 
getting quality of an "ad," but should also supplement its 
ability to create desire in favor of that which it advertises. 
Even where the rules of color harmony are not violated, even 
in the plain black-and-white, we see many violations of the 
principles of Eye-Display. Usually, these errors result from 
an effort to make the attention-getting part of the advertising 
so heavy with black ink that it repels more than it attracts. 

Excessive contrast is as dangerous as color-discord, for, 
though it may not actually repel, it will at least keep the 
reader's attention from pleasantly sauntering over your mes- 
sage. The eye is sensitive. It does not like to be hit too 
hard. Therefore, the Eye-Display that attracts in a simple 
way, with taste and in harmony, is the most effective. 

Distinguished from the merely physical display, or Eye- 
Display, is the other form of attention-getting, which we will 
call "Mind-Display." This attracts the mind. It is subtle, 
and far less mechanical than Eye-Display, but the same 
mechanical means which make for Eye-Display may also be 
used to effect Mind-Display. • 

Instead of working through the few physical laws of optics, 
Mind-Display must deal with the complex and less definite 
laws of the mental processes; for Mind-Display is more a 



50 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

matter of Psychology. It must fit in with the mechanics of 
the brain and feelings, if it is to succeed. Take, for instance, 
the kind of Mind-Display which prompts us to sympathize. 
This wins our interest and attention through the fact that 
it strikes a common chord in our make-up. 

Suppose, then, that we can associate that which we seek 
to sell with some cause in which our prospective purchasers 
have a keen interest. Imagine, for example, that we are 
advertising a certain product while our country is at war. If 
we can carry in our display a suggestion of love for the flag, 
a hatred for the foe, and if, at the same time, we can logically 
weave into that suggestion a persuasive argument in favor of 
our product, then we shall win a quicker attention and a 
keener interest than we could possibly win without achieving 
this association of ideas. Fusion of ideas is the basis of this 
system of getting attention. It merely means the linking-up 
of your appeal with something which of itself has a certain 
interest. 

There are many instances of this kind of Fusion. For in- 
stance, during the Mexican turmoil, when Americans were 
intent upon it, the Fairbanks Company came out with: "If 
we must clean up Mexico, why not let the Gold Dust Twins 
do it?" This clever soap manufacturer virtually appropri- 
ated for his own washing-powder an interest which the Mexi- 
can disturbance had created. 

There is another means of fusing ideas which helps per- 
suade the mind as well as attract the eye, by putting the 
product into a novel relationship with some atmosphere which, 
of itself, pleases the prospect. For example, certain candy 
manufacturers, during the hot summer months, found it 
profitable to picture a box of their chocolates on the snowy 
bank of an ice-clad river. Some cracker people also made a 
success with a similar idea — they portrayed their box of bis- 
cuits frozen into the centre of a cake of ice. 

But, sometimes, there are accidental instances in which a 
fusion of ideas works against favorable Mind-Display. Sup- 
pose you are advertising a food. If your "ad" is placed next 
to an announcement showing the picture of a tombstone, you 



WAYS TO WIN ATTENTION 51 

are justified in resenting it; for Mind- Display which asso- 
ciates your food with a cemetery casts an atmosphere of 
gloom around your product. On the other hand, a certain 
"ad" sought to gain Mind-Display through the element of 
timeliness. The copy was published the first week in October 
and mentioned October in the head-line. The publisher us- 
ually published a calendar of the current month in every is- 
sue, so he placed this October "ad" right below the calendar 
of October. One might have thought that the calendar was 
part of the "ad" and had been paid for by the advertiser. 

If you connect your product with some interest which 
already holds the reader's sympathy, then your product will 
unconsciously receive some of the kindly feeling which goes 
out toward the associated idea. That is why it is always 
best to make your illustrations present such people as the 
reader is likely to admire. For instance, if you are advertis- 
ing a soda-fountain drink, it is better to give a picture of 
beautiful debutantes sipping the beverage at some palatial 
drug-store than to portray a group of dirty, barefooted brats 
guzzling at some dilapidated fruit-stand on the street corner. 
As far as argument goes, the enjoyment of the urchin may 
theoretically be as strong as the pleasure that those young 
ladies experience; but people do not think much of the street 
arab's taste, whereas the finely dressed girl is supposed to be 
an epicure. 

Harmful Mind-Display results from unfortunate Fusion of 
Ideas. For instance, suppose you use the picture of a mon- 
key as a trade-mark in connection with high-grade food 
products. No one can see that animal, so usually vile with 
vermin, without disgust. And this disgust cannot help but 
be carried over into the reader's judgment of the food. 

The Mind-Display which commands the most favorable 
attention and best effects persuasion usually suggests an as- 
sociated idea which carries admiration or, at least, approval. 
Of course, there may be exceptions to this — particularly 
where so-called negative "copy" is necessary. In this case, 
where you have to use fear in order to bring about a sale, it 
may be desirable to fill your Mind-Display with a fusion of 



52 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

ideas with something despicable. For instance, in advertis- 
ing a liniment for rheumatism, the best kind of Mind-Dis- 
play might be the repulsive figure of a used-up man, with 
limbs all gnarled and twisted. 

But pleasant suggestion can generally be used to best ef- 
fect in connection with Mind-Display. The face of the 
charming nurse calling attention to San-Tox products is 
dainty enough to suggest the quality and refinement of the 
pharmaceutical products which she adorns. Or recall the 
bewhiskered face of the kindly old doctor who looks at you, 
his eyes flashing with the sparkle of health; that keen look, 
plus the words, "He don't use coffee," suggests volumes of 
persuasion, and, above all else, accomplishes the first task of 
winning the reader's eye. Such is a combination of Eye- 
Display with Mind-Display. 

The element of repetition is likewise accomplished through 
Mind-Display. In fact, for that purpose Mind-Display is 
supremely important. Some of the nationally advertised arti- 
cles were once financial failures. With most of them the 
first years showed a balance oh the wrong side of the ledger, 
but the men who then lost sleep wondering how they could 
meet their advertising bills are mostly millionaires to-day. 
The little element of cumulative result through repetition 
has been the key-note to these successes. This " rolling snow- 
ball" process, by which the effects of an advertising campaign 
keep piling up, depends on repetition. For instance, suppose 
H-0 Oatmeal had changed its name to "Sweet Oats" after 
the first year, and then, after that, to "Oatlets," and after 
that to something else. Suppose the first year they used a 
Dutch Girl as the keystone of their advertising. Suppose 
that the second year they used a soaring eagle as their trade- 
mark. Such suppositions are foolish, but the point is this: 
If H-0 had not stuck to a certain trade-mark, would H-0 be 
the factor that it is in the cereal market of to-day? 

Any sensible man knows that H-0 and all the rest of the 
big successes that advertising has created have been built 
on repetition. It may not be repetition of one argument. It 
may not be repetition of trade-mark. It is probably repeti- 




When the Halves of tr 
Read the Range — and 



«•: Th 




■ that eyes nvxy see 

better and fartke) 



Photographic 
Graveyards 

Burial places for the photographic failures 
which occur with the best people and the 
best outfits, can be avoided by using a 

Bausch 4 Lomb 
Plastigmat f=6.8 

len*. Order, your camera with it, or if you 

ha?e an outfit, ask your dealer to exchange. 

No day is too dark for Plastigmat f-6.8, 

no shutter too fast, no subject too difficult. 

Plastigmat Booklet 562 tells why. 



Bausch 6, Lomb Optical Co. 

INCORPORATED 1S6S. 

Hew Tork ROCHESTER. N. T. Chicago 



The twenty-year-old "ad" at right il- 
lustrates the danger of negative appeal. 
The mind tends to confuse the lens with 
a disagreeable graveyard. The modern 
"ad" above, in the words of adver- 
tising manager, Hugh A. Smith, "is one of the best and most effective ad- 
vertisements we have yet done, basing that judgment not only upon our 
own opinion but particularly on the reaction obtained from the magazine 
reading public and our own trade. We believe it to be of the most gen- 
eral interest, more impressive in its message and on a distinctly higher 
plane than any previous campaign of ours." 

53 



54 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

tion of different elements of Mind-Display, which, at a glance, 
have continually caused the readers to say: "I have heard 
about that product before." 

If the atmosphere of your advertising is continuously uni- 
form, and if the Mind-Display of this week's "ad" enjoys a 
favorable harmony with the Mind-Display of the "ads" that 
have gone before, there is likely to be a repetitive value, in- 
suring a cumulative result, which brings the total of advertis- 
ing benefit to a point far in excess of the sum of the separate 
benefits of the individual "ads." 

But continuity can be carried too far, and while there 
should be a continuous note of Mind-Display running all the 
way through, the advertisements should be sufficiently differ- 
ent in size and in style and in theme to escape monotony; 
for that which the public sees all the time it does not see 
at all — at least not with awakened attention. 

Repetition of Mind-Display is most evident in department- 
store advertising. The principal reason a store does a busi- 
ness this year far and above last year (which in turn showed 
bigger volume than the year before) is the cumulative effect 
of its service and its advertising. Most department-store 
"ads" could be identified by the public, even if they were not 
signed. Their atmosphere would tell the tale. Their Mind- 
Display would suggest so many previous "ads" that the 
reader would almost feel that this was So-and-So's announce- 
ment. 

That continuity of Mind-Display is what brings cumulative 
results out of the repetition of advertising. It not only works 
for the local institution — it also makes national successes 
more successful. In the case of E & W collars the simple 
repetition of name, with one or two clean-cut arguments, has 
won. Few know the arguments for E & W collars, but the 
mere name, in connection with those Mind-Displays of dis- 
tinctive trade-mark and distinguished appearance, talks to 
you almost every day — to-day in the whisper of very small 
space, to-morrow in the thunder of the quarter page, until 
the E & W has become embedded in the public mind as an ad- 
mirable institution. 



CHAPTER VIII 

How Do Size and Color Aid Display? 

Your advertising must be seen. How can you be sure on 
that point ? Will you make it big? 

Perhaps the most elusive question in the consideration of 
advertising "copy" is the problem of size. Sometimes an 
"ad" may be one-fourth the size of another, and, therefore, 
cost one-fourth as much, and yet "pull" just as efficiently. 
Certainly, four small "ads" will often pull better than one 
large one. At other times you spend your money on small 
space, to find that an advertisement twice as large will pay 
better than two of the smaller "ads." 

If display-value alone is your aim, other elements than 
sheer bigness may be used for the same effect with less cost. 
For instance, when color is available, it sometimes takes the 
place of size. A red spot as big as a dime in the centre of a 
newspaper page would win as many eyes as an ordinary 
black-and-white space one hundred times as large; but, from 
a practical standpoint, color cannot be bought in any medium 
without buying maximum size as well. Colored advertising, 
in magazines, for instance, is practically limited to the full 
page as a minimum. 

Color is a science in itself. There are three qualities which 
every color possesses, namely: 

1. Value. — Vividness — the quality of salience — contrast 

between light and dark — i. e., black-and-white as 
against gray. 

2. Hue. — The color-quality — the degree of difference pos- 

sessed by one color as against others — i. e., red as 
against green. 

3. Chroma. — The comparative degree of "hue" — the vivid- 

ness of a color as compared with its normal — i. e., 
scarlet as against maroon. 
55 



56 



A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 



For an ordinary understanding of advertising, you need not 
know a great deal about the mechanics of color. The funda- 
mental question is that of attention-value. The main colors 
in the order of values are red, black, green, orange, blue, pur- 
ple, and yellow. Certain combinations, such as black and 
orange, or red and white, are especially strong. In fact, black 
may sometimes be stronger than red, especially if the sur- 
rounding color is predominantly red. For instance, on a 
booklet with a cover of pink stock, black will have a far higher 
attention-value than red. 




There are only three pri- 
mary colors — red, blue, and 
yellow, as shown in the accom- 
panying chart. From these, 
other colors can be made. 
Three of these colors, called 
"secondary" colors, are shown 
at the corners of the triangle. 
Each of these three secondary 
colors is made by combining 
the two primary colors which 
are next to each other at that 
point. For instance, yellow 
and blue make green of differ- 
ent shades, depending upon 
the proportions of the two 
primary colors, yellow and 
blue. The primary colors red 

and blue make purple, violet, and other colors; while the primary colors 

red and yellow make orange, etc. 

In addition to their attention-value, colors have certain 
powers of suggestion. As G. G. Addington has said: 

"Each color lends a certain atmosphere. The predominat- 
ing atmosphere of blue is cleanliness. Red suggests heat, ex- 
citement, power, force. Green is cooling, soothing, and in 
most tones restful to the eye. Yellow is an appetizing color 
to the general mind, so experiments show. 

"The shades and tints of these colors carry the same gen- 
eral atmosphere, unless through some unfortunate mistake 
one should choose one of those sickening shades of green, or a 
washed-out red or blue. 

"The pastel shades, dainty tints we see most often in the 
advertising of toiletries and silks, conduct to the reader's mind 



HOW DO SIZE AND COLOR AID DISPLAY? 57 

an alluring picture of feminine charm. In the advertising of 
'Lux' this idea is brought out clearly, the general tone being 
light and graceful, a soft blending of pastel tints. Here, too, 
blue predominates in most cases, for cleanliness is a fea- 
ture. The advertising of 'Djer Kiss' toilet preparations 
makes use of the 'beauty appeal' of pastels to good advan- 
tage. 

"You wouldn't choose, however, a background of pastel 
tints for an advertisement of 5-ton trucks, for pastels are lack- 
ing in brute force. It takes solid shades to put across the 
idea of strength and stamina. The attributes of the article 
advertised should 'harmonize' with the color used; just as 
surely as it is necessary to choose the proper type face to tell 
your story of power or daintiness or beauty." 

Just as the more colorful the "ad," the more it will attract 
the eye — so the larger you make your "ad," the more atten- 
tion it will command. And the smaller the comparative size 
of competing factors, the greater the attention-value of a 
given "ad." For instance, on a page made up of "ads" 
averaging ten and fifteen inches in size, a six-inch "ad" will 
have less chance than if it were on a page with "ads" which 
did not so overshadow it. 

In most mediums, the size of an "ad" decides itself. For 
instance, the largest posters (called 24 sheets) must be 8 feet 
10 inches by 20 feet, no more, no less. The 3-sheet poster 
must be just 42 inches by 84 inches. 

In car cards, the standard size is 11 inches by 21 inches. 
But even in posters and car cards, where sizes are standard, 
there is a constant effort to startle and dominate through 
abnormal bigness. Every now and then some advertiser tries 
to get two car cards together, so as to make his message twice 
as big as that of any one else. Even in the case of the large 
24-sheet posters, Chesterfield's Cigarettes were displayed with 
two and even three of these alongside of each other, so as to 
make this advertisement, in three parts, occupy a length of 
almost 60 feet. 

But in publications there is almost no limit to the mini- 
mum or maximum size of advertisements. In newspapers 



58 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

there have been advertisements occupying 36 pages, as in 
the case of a Western department store when opening its new- 
building, which took an entire section of a Sunday newspaper. 
And yet in that same newspaper there was an advertisement 
2 inches wide by less than % inch deep; and in those maga- 
zines which are so-called class or trade publications, inserts of 
16 pages devoted to one advertiser have not been uncommon. 
Even in national magazines 4-page "ads" have been used; but 
in mediums of this kind the double-page spread is the usual 
example of sheer size. Frequently this is bought in color, as, 
for example, the advertisements of the Willys-Overland Auto- 
mobiles; and sometimes it is bought with color on one of the 
two pages of the double spread, with black-and-white on the 
other, a method employed by the Goodyear Tire Company. 
But the usual unit of space in publication advertising is the 
full page; for a full page in color secures just about the next 
maximum of possible attention-value. 

Considerations other than that of attention-value and of 
adequacy of space to permit of a persuasive message some- 
times influence the question of size. A great deal of advertis- 
ing is done with one eye on the consumer, and the other eye 
on the trade — on the dealers who almost control the destiny 
of any product. To make a dealer feel that a product is 
forcibly advertised, you must usually impress him with the 
bigness of the space that you are using. Size, too, depends 
upon what your competitors are doing. If other' manufac- 
turers in your line are using full pages, you had better use at 
least full pages, or stay out of the publications they are in; 
otherwise, you will give a confused impression that you are 
not as strong as they. In other words, if you whisper with 
yi pages, while in the same issue your competitor is shouting 
with full pages, the comparison is bad for you. 

As a rule, however, maximum space is best merely at the 
start, in order to force distribution by impressing the trade, 
and to compel attention by startling the public to a knowl- 
edge of your new product through the "shock" or "drive" 
method. Then, after distribution is achieved and the public 
begins to know that there is such a thing on the market as 



HOW DO SIZE AND COLOR AID DISPLAY? 59 

that which you advertise, y£ pages, or possibly less, may be 
more profitable than full pages or double pages. 

As a general rule, however, any advertisement ought to 
aim to dominate the page. If there is no other advertisement 
on the page, a 2-column by 4-inch "ad" may be adequate, 
from the standpoint of visibility, impressiveness, and per- 
suasiveness; but when, as is usual, there are several "ads" 
on a page, the advertisement which is Yz -page size is likely to 
approximate the golden mean. 

Size is frequently determined by the amount of money 
available, and this is sometimes a false guide, because the 
advertiser frequently thinks that he has got to use all the 
publications in which he is asked to buy space. Often it is 
better to use large space in a certain publication, or in a 
group of publications which pretty completely cover your 
market, and to stay out of the other publications entirely. 

The average national publication of a million or more has 
a tremendous "coverage," when you consider that less than 
10% of the families of the country have aggregate incomes of 
$3,000 or more per year. On that estimate less than 3,000,000 
families are very good prospects. A national circulation of 
a million is likely to reach a big proportion of this desirable 
class. Larger space in one of these publications is, therefore, 
more effective than smaller space in several of them. A pub- 
lication's circulation should be regarded as an audience — a 
given group of people to whom you are trying to carry con- 
viction. If you speak to them for a half-minute, and then 
run down the street to another audience and speak to them 
for a half-minute, you will not get nearly as many converts 
as if you spent sufficient time in really convincing one of 
those audiences. 

Not only is concentration of big space in fewer mediums a 
principle toward which advertising experience has been tend- 
ing, but there is also a tendency to conserve space by omit- 
ting advertising for certain seasons of the year, and then con- 
centrating the advertising in large quantities during certain 
limited periods. This method of concentrating advertising 
during, for instance, two months in the spring and two 



60 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

months in the fall, is what is known as the "drive" system. 
It corresponds to the military methods developed by the 
Great War, based on the principle that a concerted, concen- 
trated attack over a specific area, in a specific time, will gain 
more ground than the same expenditure of men, munitions, 
and effort applied to a continuous push day in and day out. 

The problem of "How large should an 'ad' be?" is one of 
the most discussed in advertising. There are examples where 
successes have been made on very small space, and these ex- 
amples are always the arguments of those who advocate min- 
imum size. But there are two answers to this argument: 
The first is that these successes would possibly have been 
greater if larger space had been used, and the second is that 
for every one example of advertising success built on small 
space you can point to a thousand examples built on big 
space. 

It is logical that dominant size is usually best, for these 
three reasons: 

1. Visibility: An "ad" twice as large as another is more 

than twice as likely to be seen; and visibility in- 
creases with size in almost geometrical progression. 

2. Impressiveness: An "ad" twice the size of another, 

through the mere fact of its size, has more than 
double the power of creating a favorable impression, 
which tends to build prestige and good-will in the 
minds of all who glance at the copy, even if they 
merely read the name of the product. 

3. Persuasiveness: An "ad" twice the size of another per- 

mits of enough space to carry the right kind of dis- 
play, illustration, and text; therefore, it has more 
than twice the chance to convince and to persuade. 

In seeking to find an answer to the question, "What size 
should an 'ad' be?" many experiments have been made. 
These have tended to contradictory conclusions. Some tests 
would prove that a full page is four times as effective as a 
half page, and a half page is three times as effective as a 
quarter page. But such proof is fallacious. In fact, there 
have never been enough cases to establish any laws. These 



HOW DO SIZE AND COLOR AID DISPLAY? 6l 

experiments are made on the basis of a few advertisements. 
The experimenter asks a man to look through a magazine 
and see what "ads" he can remember. Then he has other 
men do the same thing. It is found, after adding up the 
results, that the readers recall four times as many full-page 
advertisements as they do half-page advertisements. But, 
alas, so many confusing factors enter into such a test that 
the conclusions cannot be regarded as final. For instance, a 
man may remember a full-page advertisement of Williams's 
Soap because that is the kind which he, himself, uses. If he 
recalls a Williams's Soap "ad," that doesn't mean that he 
remembered it solely on account of the fact that it occupied 
a certain space. 

No one can ever fix upon a law that will determine all 
questions of size; but you can determine approximately how 
big a space you should use for a certain kind of an article 
under certain conditions. By experiment, you can answer a 
specific problem conclusively. 

Size of space depends on the kind of a product you adver- 
tise and upon specific merchandising conditions. For in- 
stance, if your product attracts a voluntary interest on the 
part of the reader, so that people look for your "ad" and read 
it of their own accord, you do not need as much space as if 
you had to attract involuntary attention — as if you had to 
force your prospect to read. 

If you advertise a cream separator in an agricultural pub- 
lication, you will enjoy a voluntary interest, because people 
in the market for that kind of a thing will probably, of their 
own accord, look through the advertising pages of that pub- 
lication for some sort of a cream separator. They will there- 
fore look for your "ad" with a purposeful attention, a volun- 
tary interest. But if you advertise an aeroplane, you will 
probably find very few of the readers who are in the market 
for such a luxury. Practically no one will look purposely for 
a product such as your "ad" presents. To force attention, 
therefore, you will have to shout louder. Consequently, you 
will have to use bigger space. 

Take an example less far-fetched than an aeroplane. 
Suppose you have to advertise some soap. Nobody says: 



62 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

"Where's this week's Journal — I want to see if there are any 
soap advertisements in it." Yet, Mr. Farmer frequently 
says: "Where's this week's Journal — I want to see if there 
are any cream-separator advertisements in it." So, if you 
are to get attention for your soap, you will have to work for 
it, and in order to create that unwilling interest, you must 
talk through fairly large space. 

It is often true that the more nearly universal the possible 
demand for a thing, the less voluntary is the interest toward 
it — usually, common commodities are faced with an involun- 
tary or unwilling interest on the part of the advertisement's 
audience, perhaps because things of universal need are usu- 
ally made by so many different manufacturers that they are 
continually and widely advertised. For instance, take the 
case of cleaning powders. They are advertised very heavily. 
By virtue of that fact, readers become used to cleaning pow- 
der " ads." When they do pay attention to them, it is not be- 
cause of their will, but because the power of the copy compels 
their interest in spite of their apathy. 

Luckily, articles of universal demand are susceptible to so 
great a sale that the expenditure necessary for increased size 
of space is warranted. But, on the other hand, if the demand 
is limited and specific, as, for instance, in case of rubber roof- 
ing, you cannot afford to use such big space, since so small 
a percentage of your readers are usually in the market for 
that thing at a particular time; nor do you need such big 
space, since those readers who are earnestly in search of rub- 
ber roofing will seek out such advertising anyway. They will 
entertain toward it a voluntary rather than an involuntary 
interest, and you will therefore get their attention even if 
your space may be small. 

But regardless of the kind of product, the tendency is 
toward large space, as is shown by these figures covering a 
whole year in one of the world's greatest magazines: 

Quarter pages were used 374 times. 
Half pages were used 274 times. 
Full pages were used 772 times. 



HOW DO SIZE AND COLOR AID DISPLAY? 63 

Of these full pages, over half of them were in color. 

Seventy per cent of the entire advertising space was in 
full-page units. 

The advertisement which is disguised as regular news 
matter strategically enjoys the voluntary interest that a 
reader naturally applies to the kind of news matter which 
such an "ad" imitates. This steals attention, even though it 
has neither contrast, novelty, nor great size. In so far as 
this "reader" advertisement looks like news matter, which 
it is not, in so far it wins attention. This tricks the reader 
into a voluntary interest. And in the long run this style 
loses because such trickiness shakes the reader's faith and 
prevents conviction. 



CHAPTER IX 

Printing Processes, Plates, and Papers 

The three main printing processes generally used in the 
advertising business are: 

1. The "letter-press" or "type-printing-press" process, in 

which the engravings and type to be printed are 
raised. 

2. Lithography, in which process the matter to be printed 

is not raised, but the impression is secured by the 
reaction of water and grease on a lithographic stone. 

3. The "web" or "rotary" press process, in which the 

paper is printed from a roll and the form is electro- 
typed or; stereotyped and curved to fit a cylinder. 

The method of the usual letter-press process is to press the 
metal type or plate against the paper — the same principle as 
that of pressing a rubber-stamp against paper. The printing 
"form" (which comprises the type in combination with the 
plates) is left flat, and is pressed flat against the paper. 

In the "type-printing" process the original engraving is a 
half-tone, zinc etching, or wood-cut. The half-tone and zinc 
can be printed directly on paper, but it is necessary to make 
a duplicate or electrotype of the wood-cut. 

Type printing is made on several different kinds of presses, 
according to the size and quantity of work to be done. For 
a small job a "job" or "platten" press is used. If the quan- 
tity is very large, or the job of sufficient size, duplicates or 
electrotypes are made and the job printed on a "cylinder" 
press, in which case the paper is carried around a cylinder in 
single sheets and comes in contact with the flat face of the 
type and engraving. 

On long runs, especially in big newspapers, the web or 

64 



PRINTING PROCESSES, PLATES, AND PAPERS 65 

rotary process is used. In this the original flat metal form is 
transferred to a cylindrical metal mould by the stereotyping 
method. The printing is then done from this rounded form, 
instead of from a flat form. 

For reproducing a piece of advertising by the hundreds of 
thousands — especially color work — lithography is the most 
economical method to use. As the term "litho" suggests, 
this implies the use of a stone. The original engraving for 
lithography is an unusually fine stone, the best specimen of 
which is obtained from Bavaria. The design is engraved or 
drawn on this stone, and then duplicated or "transferred" to 
another larger stone or sheet of zinc or aluminum. This large 
stone or metal sheet is the printing plate or " transfer" from 
which the paper gets its impression. Lithographic stones are 
of a peculiar composition. By keeping the stone wet during 
the printing process all of its surface, except that which has 
been etched (by the transfer of picture and type), keeps damp 
and thereby repels the oily ink. Consequently, when the ink 
roller passes over the stone, only those parts of its surface 
which are to make an impression on the paper take any of 
the ink. 

Lithography is the cheapest process for printing labels and 
such small multicolored pieces of printed matter which must 
be produced by the million. In these cases, one big stone 
often contains dozens of reproductions of the design. From 
this a great sheet can be printed in one impression. This 
one sheet, when cut up, will furnish a hundred or more labels. 

If you will look at a proof of a piece of lithography you 
will notice little crosses here and there. These are called the 
register marks. They are intended to enable the pressman to 
make sure that the colors, each one of which is put on in a 
separate printing, fit accurately into the intended design — 
or, as the printers say, "register" properly. For instance, 
in poor lithography, the side view of a human face will bear 
a flesh color which does not quite reach the edge of the profile 
on one side but laps over beyond the outline of the face and 
into the hair on the other side. This is what comes from in- 
accurate "registering" of the plates or stones. 



66 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Three types of machines are used in lithographic printing. 
The original lithographic printing-press is called a "flat-bed" 
or "stone" press. Here the large stone "transfer" is used, 
and the paper comes in direct contact with the stone. This 
is a slow-operating press and has been, to a great extent, 
replaced by more modern machines. It is still well adapted 
for display work in which heavy cardboard is used. 

The second style of machine is called a "direct" or "rotary" 
lithographic press. Here the metal printing plate or "trans- 
fer" is fastened on a cylinder, and this metal plate comes in 
direct contact with the paper. This style of press is used in 
printing large color editions, particularly labels. 

The third type of press is known as the "offset" press. 
Here the sheet of zinc or aluminum (to which has been trans- 
ferred the required number of designs) is attached about a 
cylinder which comes in contact with a rubber blanket. This 
rubber blanket is on a second cylinder, and comes in contact 
with the paper on a third cylinder, leaving the inked impres- 
sion on the paper. This "offsetting" of the design is what 
distinguishes the press. The offset process makes possible 
the use of rough papers to take the most detailed half-tones, 
because the rubber blanket sinks its impression into the sur- 
face of the paper, no matter how rough, whereas the half-tone 
plate itself, not being pliable, impresses its likeness only on 
the high spots or upstanding parts of the rough surface. 

Recent developments have given prominence to the photo- 
gravure process, which is described by S. T. Leigh, the Aus- 
tralian authority, as follows: 

"The Intaglio process of printing, which had been known 
in America by many names such as 'Gravure,' 'Rotogra- 
vure,' and 'Photogravure,' is that method of printing wherein 
the design is either carved or etched below the surface of the 
plate or cylinder of copper. 

"Although it has no connection with lithographic printing, 
it is the direct opposite of the common forms of newspaper 
and magazine printing, in which the subjects are either etched 
or raised in relief from the surrounding surface. In Intaglio 
printing the design is etched in with acid through the medium 



PRINTING PROCESSES, PLATES, AND PAPERS 67 

of a sheet of sensitized gelatine (known as carbon or carbon 
tissue) . 

"On web rotary perfecting presses for Intaglio work for 
newspaper supplements the form consists of a steel cylinder 
with a coating of copper about three-sixteenths of an inch 
thick. The cylinder must be perfectly true, smooth, and 
highly polished. Reversed positive photographic films are 
laid in their respective places in the cylinder, and designs are 
etched into the copper surface with acid solutions. The cylin- 
der revolves through a tray of ink when put on the press, 
coming out dripping with ink. A thin steel blade the length 
of the form, known as the 'doctor,' oscillates across the sur- 
face of the plate, scraping all the superfluous ink from the 
cylinder, leaving the surface clean, the ink remaining only in 
the etched or sunken parts of the cylinder. The paper passes 
between the copper cylinder and an impression cylinder driven 
by friction, having a medium-hard rubber surface. The im- 
pression cylinder forces the paper into the etched parts, and 
the ink is then deposited upon the paper. Because of the 
varying depths of the etched impressions, different thick- 
nesses of ink are deposited on the different tones. This causes 
some difficulty upon the solid tones. After the sheet is 
printed upon one side it passes into a heated box or around 
a steam cylinder, when heat is applied to the printed side to 
dry the ink; from here it passes to the second impression and 
is printed upon the other blank side. It again passes through 
the heat oven, where the ink is again dried, and from here it 
goes through the "former," and is delivered in folded sheets. 

"The copper- faced cylinder upon which the design is etched 
is either drawn or deposited copper of the purest quality. 
After the printed issue is finished, following any printing run, 
it is placed in a grinding machine, where the etchings are 
removed, and after having again been polished it is ready 
for another etching. 

"Artistically, Intaglio printing has advantages over any 
other, as the film of ink deposited upon a solid is thicker than 
in the medium tones or high lights. It presents a soft, vel- 
vety appearance, soft tints, delicate shadings, and lifelike 



68 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

brilliancy of detail, which distinguishes it sharply from any 
other process." 

Original printing plates are of three general kinds: 

1. Half-tones. 

2. Zinc etchings. 

3. Wood-cuts. 

These printing plates, or engravings, are indiscriminately 
referred to as "cuts," whether they be half-tones or zinc 
etchings, or what-not. 

Half-tone engravings are the most common. They look 
like photographs. They must be made either from photo- 
graphs or from wash-drawings, and their greatest value is in 
photographic reproduction. 

A half-tone is so called because it not only prints solid 
black-and-white (such as ordinary type matter contains), but 
also intermediate tones between black-and-white — in other 
words, grays. The half-tone reproduces any shade of gray 
as well as black-and-white. In that way it accomplishes 
photographic reproduction. 

You can readily understand how a black impression can 
be made on a sheet of paper, and how not printing anything 
on certain portions of white paper will leave a white space. 
But how does the half-tone, with the same metal surface, 
print black here and gray right above ? 

The half-tone is made from a sensitized plate. A screen is 
put between this sensitized plate, which is in the camera, and 
the "copy" — which is either a photograph or a wash-drawing. 

This screen is simply a piece of glass divided by many 
diagonal lines running from upper left to lower right. These 
lines are intersected by a similar set of lines running from 
lower left to upper right. They divide the screen into little 
diamond-shaped "islands." In other words, the lines hide 
from the sensitized plate, corresponding lines on the copy. 
And they expose to the sensitized plate the little parts of the 
"copy" which "peek" through the little open "islands" be- 
tween the intersecting lines of this screen which stands be- 
tween the plate and the picture. 



y<Z^W%. 



ft 



i 




M^nn^n talcum 



neuwR 



w 



~m 



HZE 





m Ai ffsr 

vnu hi, V ffKAT, 
/ <r n un(„ u mi 






Which has the greater appeal — the picture of the baby in the modern 
"ad" above, or the photo of a man in the twenty-year-old "ad" at the 
right? There is no question on that point. And it is just as obvious that 
"Mennen's Talcum" is a better handle for the public demand than "Men- 
nen's Borated Talcum Toilet Powder." 



69 



70 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Thus the clear spaces, or "islands," between the intersect- 
ing lines, reach the sensitized plate and thereon record them- 
selves. If you look at a half-tone through a microscope, you 
will see that it is made up of thousands of little "pimple-like" 
islands, or bumps, and thousands of little valleys, dug out 
from the surface. These little valleys correspond to the 
lines of that screen which was interposed between the copy 
and the sensitized plate during the exposure. 

For the sake of visualization, just suppose that these little 
bumps on the plate are mountains, and the little lines are 
depressions which we may call valleys. Here, for instance, 
is a spot on the plate which will reproduce the black hair of 
a man's head. At this point the little "valleys" are very, 
very narrow, and the tops of the little "mountains" are 
stubby and broad. 

Over yonder there is a part which is to reproduce the light 
gray of an overcoat. Here we find that the open spaces, or 
"valleys," are wider, and the tops of the mountains are pro- 
portionately thinner. It is these "mountain tops" which 
touch the paper. If these are thin they leave but a little 
spot of ink. If they are thick they leave a big spot of ink. 
The latter, of course, makes a darker impression than the 
former. In this way half-tones permit of variations in the 
shades of grays and blacks. 

Half-tones and, in fact, all engraving plates, are "blocked" 
or "unblocked," according to whether or not there is a 
wooden base to which the metal face is tacked. This wooden 
base is of sufficient thickness to make the printing surface 
exactly as high as the ordinary type. Sometimes a solid lead 
backing is used instead of a wooden base. 

"Tooling" of plates is the cutting away of metal on the 
printing surface of a plate — or the correction of defects by 
hand-engraving after the photo-engraving is finished. 

Half-tones are divided into three main divisions, according 
to the way in which they are finished : 

I. Square half-tones — if they are simple square-cornered, 
like an ordinary photograph. 






PRINTING PROCESSES, PLATES, AND PAPERS 7 1 

2. Silhouette half-tones — if they are "outlined" — if the 

superfluous background is cut away so that it repro- 
duces a blank white. 

3. Vignette half-tones — if the background immediately 

surrounding the objects gradually fades off from a 
clear impression into haziness, and finally into 
nothing. 

Half-tones are also divided as to screens — in other words, 
as to coarseness or fineness. This "screen" refers to those 
parallel lines which ran diagonally across the "screen" which 
was originally placed between the copy and the sensitized 
plate at the time the negative was taken. In a coarse half- 
tone these lines may be so far apart that there are sixty of 
them (in the form of "dots") to an inch. When the dots are 
closer the half-tone is finer. They may be so close that two 
hundred of them, side by side, will measure only an inch in 
width. 

The coarse-screen half-tone of about "60-screen" is the 
only kind that is usually feasible for the ordinary newspaper, 
because the surface of the newspaper is often so uneven that 
a "fine" half-tone, a 100-screen or finer, would blur and blot. 
On smooth-surfaced paper, such as that used in magazines 
and some books, the half-tone of about 133-screen is the best. 
< The zinc etching is the simplest form of engraving. This 
is like a half-tone, except that in the "zinc" no "screen" is 
used between the copy and the sensitized metal plate when 
the likeness is being photo-engraved thereon. This sensitized 
plate, like a photographic film, records the image or "copy," 
which, in the case of a "zinc," is simply black-and-white — 
such as crayon-drawing, or black pen-and-ink on white. Such 
art-work, in general, is classed as "line-drawing." 

Since the "zinc" etching has no screen like the half-tone, 
the zinc cannot reproduce photographs. Yet the very small- 
est black-and-white type matter, for instance, can be mi- 
nutely reproduced on a zinc etching. 

If a photographic subject has to be put into a zinc engrav- 
ing, then the "copy" must first be changed into the plain 



72 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

black-and-white by being made over into a pen-and-ink or 
line-drawing. Naturally, plain zinc etchings are, as a rule, 
the best kind for newspaper use, because they do not have 
to depend upon the smoothness of the printing stock for 
faithful impressions. And to further insure an unsmudged 
result, the larger "white" spaces on the plate are cut away 
entirely. This elimination of that part of the metal surface 
which is not to print is called "routing." 

If you want either an unusually sharp reproduction, or one 
which is obviously different, you may use a "wood-cut" — 
particularly if the subject to be treated is an engine, or some 
other mechanical work. Wood-cuts are quite like zinc etch- 
ings, except that they are of wood instead of metal. They 
have to be carved by hand rather than etched out by acid. 
The original wood-cut, itself, is seldom used; duplicates are 
made from the original pattern plate. So, when it comes to 
the final printing, the wood-cut's likeness is put on the paper 
through the intermediary of an etched metal, which is simply 
a duplicate of the wood engraving. 

"Electrotypes" are also included under the general ver- 
nacular of "cuts." They are neither original half-tones nor 
zinc etchings. They are simply "carbon copies," as it were 
— simply duplicates. These "electros," as they are usually 
called, are made by taking a wax impression of the original 
printing plate, whether a half-tone or zinc. Through a chem- 
ical process the resultant wax mould becomes surfaced with a 
shell of copper. This shell of copper is then stiffened by 
being backed with lead. The result is a complete electro- 
type. The deeper the copper shell, the better the electro- 
type. 

You can readily tell an electrotype from the zinc pattern 
plate, from the fact that the former has a copper face instead 
of a white-metal surface. You can readily tell an electrotype 
duplicate from an original copper half-tone pattern plate, by 
the fact that although both of them have a copper face, the 
electro has lead-like metal beneath its copper face — whereas 
the half-tone is copper clear through to the block on which 
it is fastened. 



PRINTING PROCESSES, PLATES, AND PAPERS J$ 

When it is necessary quickly to duplicate type matter and 
plates, such as are used in the newspapers, the stereotype 
process is used. This means that a blotter-like substance, 
called a matrix, is pressed down on the surface of the metal 
type form (which combines composition and cuts). As a 
consequence, a reverse impression is made on this blotter-like 
substance — the "matrix." Lead is then poured over this 
matrix. The result is a metal plate, which, of course, con- 
forms to its blotter-like mould (the matrix), for the matrix is 
simply an impression taken from the original type form. The 
lead thus cast in this matrix mould becomes a "stereotype." 
This is a solid plate. Its face is an absolute duplicate of the 
original composition and cuts. 

Stereotypes are used in newspapers because the printing 
speed necessarily demands a rotary press, and stereotypes are 
easily made in cylindrical form. It is impossible to use an 
assembled form of individual type and plates on a press 
revolving as fast as a newspaper requires. No matter how 
well locked together such might be, they would fly apart 
when running at the rate of speed necessary for publication. 
That is why it is necessary to make each page into one big 
metal semicylinder by the stereotype process. 

The question of what paper stock is to be used is impor- 
tant, in case it is a printing job. You will undoubtedly have 
before you a full sample case, showing the different styles 
available. These little samples indicate in what size they 
are carried in stock and also the weight. The quotation is 
usually on the basis of a ream, which is generally 500 sheets, 
and the weight usually means the number of pounds that 
each ream weighs. Printing papers usually come in sheets 
of 24 x 36, 25 x 38, 26 x 40, 28 x 42, 32 x 44, or 36 x 48 inches. 

There are hundreds of different kinds of papers from which 
to choose and hundreds of different kinds of colors. You 
will have to select largely on the basis of the feeling and the 
looks. The grades of paper vary from the cheapest news- 
paper stock, made of, wood-pulp, to the finest linen bonds, 
made from selected rags. 

Nearly all of the better papers are "sized." In other 



74 



A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 



























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PRINTING PROCESSES, PLATES, AND PAPERS 75 

words, they have been treated with either a vegetable or 
animal substance, which fills up the pores of the surface of 
the paper so that the ink will stay on the exterior, and not 
soak into the body of the stock. The best agent for this 
sizing is animal glue. Clay is sometimes used as a filler to 
bring about a smooth surface. 

Paper varies in the quality of the sizing used. It also 
varies in another big point — "calendering." Calendering 
means the ironing of the paper between heavy rollers. The 
usual surface obtained in this way is called "machine finish," 
sometimes termed "M. F." If treated with a little better 
care, it is sometimes called supercalendered. When it is 
supercalendered as well as sized, the paper is called "S. & 
S. C." — meaning "sized and supercalendered." 

But even this paper may not have a sufficiently glossy 
surface. Therefore, your particular job may require an 
"enamelled" stock, with its surface artificially finished with 
a coating of starch-like material known as china clay. This 
can be finished with a dull effect, or a shiny brilliance. 

There are many hundred special kinds of papers, including 
the rough antique and other dull finishes which lack gloss. 
Also, there are scores of different kinds of stocks designed 
particularly for use as covers on booklets. Beyond these 
there are the many bristol-boards or cardboards, for signs, 
mailing-cards, tickets, etc. "Boards" of this kind usually 
come in sizes 22 x 28 inches. 

These boards are built of different layers of paper and each 
layer is called a "ply." Thus, if a stock is said to be six-ply, 
it means that it is six layers of paper thick. When "point" 
is used to designate thickness of stock, it does not mean the 
same unit of measurement as the "point" in type. A litho- 
graphic board of 125 point, for instance, would be only a 
fraction of an inch thick. 



CHAPTER X 

Type and Typographical Arrangement 

Suppose you run your advertisement across three columns, 
a width of over six inches. Your first temptation will be to 
make each reading line run straight across those three col- 
umns. You may think that such a three-column line will 
impress more strongly than three one-column lines. As a 
matter of fact, your line of three-column width will be hard 
to read, unless the type is of a certain size, with a certain 
amount of white space between each line. 

This matter of legibility is one of the first factors in the 
success of an advertisement. If the "ad" cannot be read it is 
useless. Anything that reduces legibility is bad — bad not 
only because of difficulty in reading, but also because it de- 
tracts from good appearance. For instance, a heavy black 
display in reading matter usually results in an illegible smear, 
and an ugly effect which repels rather than attracts, for the 
human eye is sensitive and fastidious. 

Then, too, a thoughtless concentration upon size and em- 
phasis may tempt you to employ only capital letters. Such 
typography also prevents easy reading. You can readily see 
the logic of this. The human eye is used to reading the news 
in a newspaper. The usual news column is a little over two 
inches wide. It is made up almost entirely of small letters — 
not capitals. When, therefore, you force an eye to travel 
over all capitals — a style of type entirely different from that 
to which it is so accustomed — the eye is likely to revolt. 

Experiments in psychological laboratories prove that the 
eye can best grasp the type which is of "upper and lower 
case" (that is, of capital and small letters, used according to 
the accepted rules). Also, these experiments prove that the 
eye cannot grasp more than four "units" at one time. So, in 
head-lines, where each word is virtually a "unit," the cap- 

76 



TYPE AND TYPOGRAPHICAL ARRANGEMENT 77 

tion which comprises only four words has more chance than 
the caption of many words. 

When within an " ad" you use large type to attract attention 
to some special point, this use of display will be effective in 
proportion to the infrequency with which you resort to it. 
Italics are better for this purpose than all-capital letters, or 
mere blackness; yet italics are hard to read, because they are 
unnatural. Italics are likely to interfere with the even run- 
ning of the reading eye. If you wish to emphasize a certain 
word or set of words, the better way is to underscore, when 
that is possible. 

In the news column (on which the human eye has been 
largely "brought up") you will find little or no emphasis, 
either by way of capitals, or italics, or underscoring. The 
eye is not educated to word-emphasis, except through the 
medium of the personal letter. When you seek to emphasize 
in handwriting, you use the underscoring method. As a 
result this method has become the natural and, therefore, the 
best method by which to accomplish internal emphasis, when 
internal emphasis is necessary. 

The selection of type is very important, because, as the 
expert, Benjamin Sherbow, says: "Printed matter must be 
more than readable — it must be easy to read." 

There are almost as many different kinds of type as there 
have been leaders in the art of printing. In general, types 
may be divided into four main classes: 

1. Old Style — Types such as Caslon, the style used in the 

reading matter in the usual newspaper. 

2. Modern — Newer faces of type, but based on the original 

Roman faces. 

3. Gothic — Square-cornered, ugly, plain faces, such as are 

usually associated with old circus-posters or cheap 
bargains. 

4. Text — Fancy faces, such as "Old English" type, usually 

used on formal announcements or memorials. 

In each of these families there are many "relatives," each 
with a different name. Although the general families differ 



78 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

decidedly, the varieties within a family are similar, and you 
need not burden your mind with their names. You can us- 
ually have a type book at hand for reference, so that you 
can select the kind you want. 

The technical word that describes a given class of type is 
"font." Each font has a different character of "face," the 
term which designates the printing surface of types. For in- 
stance, a Cheltenham font is a certain branch of the Old 
Style classification, but there are different tribes of Chelten- 
ham. One is Cheltenham "condensed"; in this the letters 
are abnormally narrow. If you wish a Cheltenham type 
which is abnormally wide, you will ask for Cheltenham "ex- 
tended." Then there is the Cheltenham italic, the kind of 
Cheltenham whose component types slant from lower left to 
upper right. "Bold" specifies the style of face which makes 
a heavy impression, and this is sometimes called "black 
face." It is the opposite of the light-face type, whose print- 
ing surface is sharp and thin, and whose impression is dainty. 

While the Gothic family is rugged, plainer, and simpler, 
you can employ the Old Style, achieve strength and boldness, 
and yet have the graceful curves and other little points of 
attraction which distinguish the old-style and the modern 
faces from the blunter Gothic. 

Type varies in size from that which is so small that it is 
called "pearl," up to that which is so large that it has to be 
carved out of wood, because in metal it would be too heavy 
to handle. 

You hear printers say: "That's 8-point-»-that is too small 
— it ought to be 12-point." What do they mean by "point" ? 
A point is merely an arbitrary measurement which equals 
1/72 of an inch. When you want to use type an inch high 
you specify 72-point. If you want your reading matter of 
letters 1/6 of an inch high, you indicate 12-point. There is 
some type as small as 5-point — smaller, therefore, than a 
fourteenth of an inch high. 

A point, then, is a technical term to designate the height 
of type. The width of a unit of type naturally varies. The 
letter I, of course, is narrower than the letter W. Luckily 



TYPE AND TYPOGRAPHICAL ARRANGEMENT 79 

the letter M is just as wide as it is high. Out of this coin- 
cidence grows the fact that the unit for measuring width is 
called an "em." The "em" of any certain height of normal 
type is the width of the letter M in that particular size. And 
the "em" is as wide in number of points as that particular 
type happens to be high. For the "em" is as wide as a 
given type's height. Thus, the "em," in connection with 
the 12-point type, is 12 points wide. Since in this case the 
unit of measurement is 12 points (or 1/6 of an inch), there 
are 6 "ems" in each inch of width, and so a column 2 inches 
wide comprises 12 ems. Likewise, the em in a style of type 
36 points high is 36 points, or ^-inch wide — and so on. 

"Better make this a 12-em column," you will sometimes 
hear the printer say, without regard to the size of the type 
to be used — whether it be 12 points high, or 18 points, or 
some other height. When used independently in this way 
the em refers to a "pica" em, which is always a 12-point 
type. So, even if you do not know what the height of type 
is to be, a 12-em width means 2 inches wide, whenever such 
specification is made without regard to height of type; and 
the term "em" is usually used in this loose way, and means 
a 12-point unit of width. 

"Line" is another arbitrary term of measurement. Most 
space is sold on the basis of this unit. The "line" is tech- 
nically an agate line. This is theoretically 5^ points high. 
In other words, there are 14 of these lines to an inch, so that 
in a publication where the space is quoted at 10 cents a line, 
$1.40 is the price for each inch of height in a given column. 
But if such lines of type are set "well-leaded," they will 
occupy more than 1 inch for each 14 lines, because "leaded" 
means that little lead partitions separate each line from the 
one above it. "Set with 2-point lead" means that between 
each line you want a strip of lead (2 points, or 1/36 of an 
inch thick). But, if you do not want the lines of type "opened 
up" or spread out in this way, you ask that they be set 
"solid." This means that the bottom of one type rests on 
top of the type in the line below, with no space between the 
two lines except the slight one caused by the fact that the 



80 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

base of the type is larger than the surface from which the im- 
pression is taken. 

In getting type set, you have the choice of three main 
methods : 

1. Hand composition. 

2. Linotype. 

3. Monotype. 

Hand composition is the manual, or "hand-set" method. 
This permits of the greatest possible variety in type compo- 
sition. It is the most flexible way of setting any display 
matter or any text. 

Straight reading matter can be set more economically by 
machine. In the ordinary running type of the news columns 
most newspapers use linotype. By this method each line 
of type is set in one solid piece of metal as wide as the width 
of the columns. Necessarily, then, if an error is made the 
entire line must be thrown away and a new one "cast" in 
its place. 

With the monotype machine each individual letter is 
made into a new type, freshly cast for that purpose. This 
machine uses a roll of paper similar to that used for the auto- 
matic player-piano, in which a special machine — similar to 
a typewriter — pricks a series of little holes. When this roll 
is applied to another machine, the caster, there results the 
individual manufacture of a particular unit of type, whether 
letter, punctuation mark, or figure. Virtually, then, the 
monotype makes type to order in the" sequence necessary, 
and automatically sets up the type as needed. 

The best way to learn the typographical fundamentals of 
advertising is to visit a printing-plant and a lithographing- 
plant. If you absorb simply the main facts you will then 
have enough of a working basis to instruct your printer 
intelligently. 

The average printer, left to himself, is more likely to seek 
the fancy result than to produce maximum effectiveness, 
from an advertising standpoint, so you can secure better 
advertising if you specify to the printer what you want, in 



TYPE AND TYPOGRAPHICAL ARRANGEMENT 



81 



a general way at least. The usual way to do this is by means 
of a "dummy," as it is called, if you are working on a booklet 
or circular, or anything with extensive text; or by means of 
a "layout," if it be an advertisement to be reproduced in 
magazine or newspaper. 

The "dummy" is simply a rough plan suggesting what 
you desire. If you want a booklet, you should give the 
printer a dummy suggesting the stock to be used, the num- 
ber of pages, and the design of each page. This "dummy" 
should show the size and kind of binding you require. It 
should indicate, by a rough sketch, where the illustrations 
are to go. As to the reading matter, you will figure out how 
many words, of the size of type which you want, can fit into 
a square inch. From this you can calculate how much mat- 
ter will go on each "type" page. 

Here are tables showing the amount of space that certain 
sizes of type take, both in square inches and in number of 
lines: 



Approximate Number of Words 
in Square Inch 

6 point leaded 34 words. 

6 point solid 47 words. 

7 point leaded 27 words. 

7 point solid 38 words. 

8 point leaded 23 words. 

8 point solid 32 words. 

10 point leaded 16 words. 

10 point solid 21 words. 

11 point leaded 14 words. 

11 point solid 17 words. 

12 point leaded 11 words. 

12 point solid 14 words. 

(Leaded means 



Approximate Number of Words Per 

Column Inch (Column 

2J Inches Wide) 

6 point leaded 73 words. 

6 point solid 101 words. 

7 point leaded 58 words. 

7 point solid 82 words. 

8 point leaded 49 words. 

8 point solid 69 words. 

10 point leaded 34 words. 

10 point solid 45 words. 

1 1 point leaded 30 words. 

11 point solid 36 words. 

12 point leaded 23 words. 

12 point solid 30 words. 

2-point leads.) 



A "type" page is that part of a full page which is to be 
covered with type or illustration. If your dummy has a 
page 6x9 inches, outside measurement, and an inch-wide bor- 
der or margin of white space all the way around, then your 
"type" page will be 4 x 7 inches. 

When possible, you should paste into your "dummy" 
proofs of the cuts you propose to use. Under each of these 



82 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

you should indicate any wording you wish to use as cap- 
tions to describe the cuts. You should also designate what 
the head-lines should be, writing them in on the dummy 
itself. As to the reading matter, you simply need to make 
clear where it is to go, without attempting to embody this 
text in your "dummy." The manuscript, generally separate 
and in typewritten form, is attached to the "dummy." 

The same points apply to the usual "layout." If for a 
newspaper or magazine, your layout should be practically a 
"map" of the way you want the illustrations and type matter 
arranged. Any big head-lines should be sketched in on this 
"map." If possible, you should either paste in a proof of 
the cuts, or if you have the cuts handy you should ink them 
over with an ordinary rubber-stamp pad, and hammer their 
impression directly on the layout, right from the printing 
plates. The reading matter should simply be attached to 
the layout with each part of the manuscript marked so as to 
show just where each paragraph is to be inserted in the com- 
position as laid out. 

These layouts and dummies correspond to blue-prints and 
specifications in the field of building. They are architectural 
instructions by which printers, engravers, and artists build 
the final structure. 

Usually the front of a building — the facade — is that which 
makes a building beautiful or not beautiful. A building that 
looks well at first glance has a great asset simply in its ap- 
pearance. This is true of advertisements, too; if they are 
good-looking they have won half the battle. 

The general composition of an advertisement decides 
whether or not it is attractive. The very best art work is 
not worth its cost if the general design is not harmonious — 
if the different parts of the advertisement do not fit together 
in a way that insures both attractiveness and the proper 
presentation of the selling message. 

There are three main factors in securing this result: 

1. Proper emphasis. 

2. Unity. 

3. Simplicity. 



" If It isn't an Eastman, it isn't a Kodaii." 

To the chemical per- 
fection of Kodak Film 
a. s well as to the 
mechanical and optical 
perfection of the Kodak 
is due the continued 



EASTMAN KODAK CO 



• 5.00 to $35.00 



*~" 



On the left, an advertisement of 
twenty years ago. Below, an adver- 
tisement of now. Note how the im- 
provement in typography, and use of 
picture, increase the appeal. 



Kodak *y*ji. 
Success 'f,*? 

it a CT\.t a v* «ni»At/ /->••* JiTi 




Kodak as you go. 



Eastman Kodak .Company, Rochester, N. Y. 



Although this "ad" has few words, it is really full of reason-why 
persuasion, because the picture itself is a demonstration of the product. 

83 



84 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

The general skeleton of an advertisement, or of a page, 
should be built according to that law of proportions which 
involves what is known as the " golden section" — the ideal 
proportion that sculptors and artists have adhered to through- 
out the ages. The golden section means that the weight is so 
balanced that the optical centre of the composition is slightly 
above the actual centre of the advertisement or page. This 
ideal centre, for most pleasing effects, is two-fifths the dis- 
tance from the top and three-fifths the distance from the 
bottom. 

Proper emphasis requires the subordination of everything 
else to one dominant factor — the factor which requires the 
greatest display. To try to emphasize several factors in a 
layout is fatal, for then, in the finished product, the compo- 
nent members will compete against each other for the atten- 
tion of the reading eye. 

Unity requires that an advertisement or a layout should 
hang together, that all component members should be well 
knit, that they should be so related and joined to one another 
that the entire advertisement or page will itself form a unit — 
at least, from an optical standpoint. Unity may be gained 
through illustrations — by carrying the illustrations in an 
"L" shape or in an "S" shape, or some other form that will 
tend to make the eye comprehend the advertisement as a 
single object; or unity may be achieved by the proper use 
of white margins; or it may be based on the proper arrange- 
ment of type. 

Simplicity requires that the advertisement be kept free 
from "gingerbread" — from all the fancy uses of type and 
illustration and arrangement which tend in themselves to 
engage the eye and so divert attention from the advertising 
message. And yet, the type should be distinctive, for with- 
out this quality it is of little interest. But distinctiveness 
may be gained by the skilful arrangement of type rather than 
by the use of novel faces. In fact, Caslon type — the old, 
old standby — may be arranged to constitute a most distinc- 
tive piece of typography, although it is simple and readable. 

Type can be used to suggest the quality of the product 



TYPE AND TYPOGRAPHICAL ARRANGEMENT 85 

which it advertises. Certain styles of dainty light-faced type 
suggest the pretty whiteness of silk wedding-dresses. Rug- 
ged faces, such as Scotch Bodoni, suggest the solidity and 
strength of a great bank. Other faces of type suggest nov- 
elty, some suggest speed, some suggest jollity, and some 
suggest cheapness. 

The surroundings affect type as much as shrubbery, lawns, 
and trees affect the appearance of a home. The setting with 
which to surround type may be an illustration, or may be 
white space. White space is a very important factor in the 
building of any advertisement or page. White margins 
should be in certain proportion to the size of the page and to 
the amount of reading matter on the page, and each white 
margin should bear a certain proportion to every other. 
For instance, on the left-hand page of a book, the left white 
margin should be a little bit wider than the right white mar- 
gin — and vice versa on the right-hand page. And always — ■ 
the bottom margin should be a little bit deeper than the 
width of the side margin, and also deeper than the top margin. 



CHAPTER XI 

Visualizing the Advertising Message 

The first function of an advertisement is to be "seen" — 
to secure the attention of the reader. The "ad" must win the 
reader's eye, either through merit of display or through some 
other interest-catching quality. Here enters the illustration 
— the strongest single factor in all advertising; for the illus- 
tration is both word and picture, at one and the same time. 
Illustration can describe as no language can, and it transmits 
its message at a glance rather than through tedious perusal; 
for, illustration has merely to be seen; it does not have to be 
read. 

Usually the picture serves to describe the article which the 
"ad" presents. But a good illustration can very profitably 
describe the selling point as well as the article. When em- 
ployed to explain in one quick eye-flash the gist of your 
message, the picture is likely to usurp a part of the function 
of a caption — sometimes to take the place of a caption. 

For instance, call to mind the picture of a good-looking 
man wearing a Hart, Schaffner, and Marx suit. It speaks 
for itself as strongly as if it were a head-line saying: "HS&M 
suits have style." Thus one illustration can suggest quali- 
ties of a product more vividly than any number of words, 
nor can mere words create as vivid and convincing an im- 
pression. Unillustrated words often fail even to win a super- 
ficial reading, while a picture seldom fails to draw a glance. 

To tell a story with pictures you may find that the pen- 
and-ink style, just the plain "line" cut, works best. Most 
newspaper cartoons are of this style. Even when the smooth- 
ness of printing-stock surface permits the use of a photo- 
graphic half-tone, the pen-and-ink illustration is likely to be 
preferable, for it has a dash and a vim, a natural strength 
and a rugged action which the half-tone often lacks. 

86 



VISUALIZING THE ADVERTISING MESSAGE 87 

The ideal illustration performs two functions — it illustrates 
the article and also suggests the reasons why the reader should 
buy. This double purpose in an illustration is the modern 
style. For instance, one picture shows a happy-faced woman 
at work with a vacuum sweeper, another portrays an enviable 
plutocrat at the wheel of a high-powered automobile. In both 
these cases the half-tone style of illustration is preferable, if 
feasible, because here your first task is to picture your vacuum 
cleaner or your machine, while, incidentally, the illustration 
itself also suggests: "That woman looks contented even when 
she's sweeping — it must be easy with that vacuum cleaner," 
or "My, I wish I had a car like that!" 

Although illustration can be made so effective as an ad- 
junct to advertising, many advertisers waste pictures. False 
economy leads them to use any illustration which happens 
to be on hand. They use it in an "ad" which the illustration 
does not illustrate. In order to save a few dollars — the few 
dollars that the new engraving and art work would cost — 
such pound-foolish persons practically throw away the space 
for which they have paid hundreds of dollars. 

There is a worse offense than this misuse of illustrations 
which do not illustrate: some pictures not only do not help 
out, but actually produce a repellent atmosphere about the 
goods. Take the example of the snake employed to illus- 
trate a food label. This kind of misuse is almost suicidal. 

Another danger is the temptation to rely too much upon 
overused arrows for illustration. Avoid them. Keep in 
mind the old story about the lad who cried "Wolf!" The 
cry became an old story; to hear it became a habit. The 
warning attracted less and less attention the more it was 
given. So it is with arrows. At first this form of illustra- 
tion was tremendously attractive, but, so many arrows have 
been used in so many different ways, that to-day the arrow 
glides off the reader's eye quite as water does from a duck's 
back. Yet the arrow still has some value as an aid to other 
illustrations. You can put action into your "ad" by the use 
of an arrow. To the reader's eye the arrow seems to fly. 
It means movement — and for that reason the arrow helps to 



88 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

carry along the reader's eye. You can therefore use arrows 
to point the way for the reading eye, but you may misuse 
them so that they clog and block. 

The American eye runs from left to right. The Chinese 
eye does not. The Chinaman reads from bottom to top, 
whereas the native Hebrew reads his Yiddish from right to 
left; but the American eye, or the European eye, travels from 
left to right. So it is that if your arrow does not run from 
left to right it hinders rather than helps. For instance, paint 
a black line of type matter across a big outdoor bulletin- 
board. Over the top of this line, and parallel to it, paint a 
huge arrow, just as big as the reading line, running from right 
to left. Beneath this reading line paint another big arrow 
running from right to left. The words between these two 
arrows run opposite to the direction of the arrows. They 
are, therefore, far harder to read than if the arrows were not 
there — or if the arrows ran from left to right in the same 
direction as the human eye runs when reading. 

In a general way this left-to-right rule holds good in almost 
any illustration. Suppose that you must picture an auto- 
mobile. You can do this just as well by having the front at 
the right and the rear at the left — pointing in the same direc- 
tion as the eye is accustomed to run; and yet the first four- 
teen pictures of motor cars which a group of ad men recently 
investigated, all pointed from right to left — that is, opposite 
to the natural direction of the reading eye. To emphasize 
a radiator, it might be best to show the machine facing toward 
the reader's left. If the illustration be that of a human 
face, it is better to make the profile point toward the right, 
rather than toward the left, unless you want to centre special 
interest on the profile, in which case the face can well be 
turned toward the left. But, other things being equal, the 
direction of your illustration should follow the natural course 
of the human eye — from left to right. 

The chief function of illustration is visualization — putting 
the message in visible form. This part of the task is so big 
that the mere violation of technical details does not matter 
much if the design in general strongly visualizes the mes- 



Fall Suits 



Prices for Va.rsi»y Suits 

$15 ,o $50 



Hart, SchafTner & Marx 

Chicago and N c w York 



At left, an advertisement of 1900. 
This was one of the best pieces of copy 
of its day. The main point in which 
the modern "ad" below is superior, 
is in simplification of layout. 




For style, for economy— buy all-wool 

IF you want to save in clothes, buy all-wool and you'll 
buv less often If you want style — you must have all- 
wool The style does not last without it You'll get it all in 
our clothes — money back ij you're not satisfied 

Hart Schaffher & Marx 



^ About the recent "ad" above, one of the H. S. & M. executives says: 
"We think this advertisement is best. The illustration tells a good part 
of the story of good clothing. Combined with this are enough words to 
deliver our entire message." 

89 



90 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

sage. Visualization depends on ideas. The idea — or the 
theme of the illustration — is the first thing that must be 
conceived. A fair piece of art work, based on the right kind 
of persuasive idea, may be infinitely better from a standpoint 
of results than the finest art work based on a mediocre idea. 

The idea comes first, and the man who has the ability to 
create such ideas for effective visualization has the most 
profitable ability in the field of advertising. From his rough 
sketch, which simply carries the germ of the idea, the final art 
work must be developed. 

With this rough sketch there must go certain directions, 
based on certain decisions as to what kind of art work is 
wanted. For instance, if a boy or girl is to be shown, what 
kind of a boy or girl? A child of the gutter or a child of 
the limousine, or a typical American youth ? Is the mes- 
sage to be one of the dignity of table silver, or is it to be the 
slap-you-on-the-back, hail-fellow-well-met slang of the pipe 
tobacco ? 

No matter what it is, there should be in the illustration 
itself a certain appeal — that elusive quality which makes a 
short story entertaining. This appeal may be in the beauty 
of a woman's face, or in the joy of a lad who is about to dive 
into the favorite swimming-hole. Or it may be the aged 
mother and father sitting together under the evening lamp. 
Romance is probably the strongest of all these many kinds 
of appeal. If the illustration can carry with it the romantic 
quality of a good short story it will have powerful appeal. 

Novelty, too, is a quality to be sought when creating illus- 
trations. A novel and original picture will often do wonders. 
"English Ovals" introduced themselves to the public by a 
trick picture — the profile of an English type of man, his mon- 
ocle formed by the large initial "O" of the word Ovals. 
Then again, in the case of "Meet the Duke of York," another 
brand of cigarettes was featured by a smoker's hand, holding 
a lighted cigarette, so arranged that it threw a black silhou- 
ette of the duke himself. The refreshing technique of the 
"Lux" illustrations had much to do with the degree of Lux's 
success. The " Jonteel " line was built on the eccentric feat- 




PEN 



PENCIL 





WASH 



OIL 



The question of what kind of drawing or painting to use, depends on 
two things: (i) The Subject; (2) The Medium. The usual newspaper 
advertisement should be in pen-and-ink, because the paper itself is so 
rough that fine-screen half-tones are impossible. Good magazines can 
accommodate any style of illustration. If the subject requires photographic 
treatment, the wash-drawing is best. If the subject requires brutal poster- 
like technique, the pen-and-ink is best — providing the picture is for use in 
a publication. (Above drawings used by courtesy of the Strathmore Paper 
Company.) 



91 



92 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

ures of an unheard-of bird. "The Bluebird for Happiness" 
introduced a washing-machine by the novelty of a symbol. 

There are many ways of illustrating an idea. The cheap- 
est and the easiest method is by way of the photograph. 
There are three different kinds of photographs: 

1. The straight photograph, with fairly sharp detail. 

2. The retouched photograph, with some detail eliminated 

and other detail emphasized by art work laid over 
the photograph. 

3. The soft-focus photograph, where the detail is blurred 

and where the general effect is the impressionistic 
quality of a wash-drawing. 

The wash-drawing is like the photograph in that it carries 
all tones of gray from black to white, although it is done en- 
tirely with a brush. 

Art work in pencil and in crayon is desirable for certain 
styles of illustration. Crayon is usually heavy and best used 
for poster work, whereas pencil is light and dainty, and may 
be used for illustration either on fine paper, such as magazine 
stock, or on coarse paper, such as newspaper stock. 

There are several ways of making a line-drawing, by using 
either pen-and-ink, crayon, or dry brush. With pen-and-ink 
you can obtain a great range of results, from the finely 
modelled realistic effect to the very flat decorative effect. 
Although a crayon drawing is made with a crayon, a line cut 
can be made from it. This is very effective in achieving 
certain qualities that you cannot get either with a pen or 
brush. Dry-brush drawings have a distinctive quality all 
their own. An artist makes these by first dipping his brush 
in ink and then wiping it off on a blotter, so that there is 
little ink left on the brush when it is applied to the paper. 

The Ben Day — which is a tinted surface laid on during the 
course of plate-engraving — makes possible all kinds of com- 
binations with all kinds of line-drawings, to the result of a 
highly artistic technique. Ben Day screens can either be laid 
on a white surface, making dots or lines on white paper, or 



VISUALIZING THE ADVERTISING MESSAGE 93 

white dots or lines can be etched into large black surfaces, 
making them gray instead of solid black. This latter method 
often gives very pleasing results. It is a rule with some 
magazines to Ben Day every large mass of black, so that their 
pages will not be too jumpy in appearance. 

Illustrations in colors, there are several varieties: 

1. Water-color drawings. 

2. Pastels. 

3. Oil-paintings. 

Although the oil-painting has been used considerably, the 
tendency in advertising has been toward the water-colors, in 
pastel treatment — that is, with delicate flat tints of dainty 
color. This forms a fetching illustration and yet one which 
does not call too much attention to itself. Modesty is a 
quality of a good illustration; for the art work in an adver- 
tisement is only to help achieve the general result. The art 
work should be designed to strengthen the advertising mes- 
sage. The advertisement should not be designed to show off 
the art work. 

The kind of drawing or illustration you should use de- 
pends on several different factors — the main one being that 
of medium. First, the mechanical requirements determine a 
great part of the decision as to what style to adopt. For 
instance, the newspaper, with its soft, rough printing stock 
and its high-speed presses, demands either open pen-and-ink, 
or some similar technique. The magazines, on the other 
hand, use highly coated stock, which permits the use of almost 
any kind of art work. The kind of audience to which the ad- 
vertisement must appeal also helps a great deal to determine 
the quality of the illustration. Even the editorial quality 
of the publication in which the advertisement is to appear 
should have an influence as to the kind of illustration that 
is to be used. 

But, of course, the dominant factor in selecting the method 
of visualization is the selling message itself. No illustration 
is worth the space that it takes unless it does more than its 



94 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

proportionate share toward carrying that selling message into 
the reader's heart and mind. 

The size of the advertisement will also have a bearing on 
the style of illustration. The question, too, of cost will enter. 
If you can afford only $5.00 for illustration, then you had 
better stick to photographs. If you have $50 to spend, 
then you can get a pen-and-ink drawing. If you want a 
good wash-drawing, you will probably have to pay upward 
of $100. A fine painting in colors, by one of the best artists, 
will cost from $250 to $1,000 per illustration. 

Not many years ago there were two kinds of art — true art 
and commercial art. But to-day many of the best artists 
are commercial artists. This is not wholly due to the fact 
that these leaders in art can get large fees for doing commer- 
cial art work. Rather it is because advertising has so im- 
proved that its art work is now on a high plane. 



CHAPTER XII 

Preliminary Analysis by the Retail 
Advertiser 

With a working knowledge of the principles and mechanics 
of advertising, the problem begins to become specific. How 
you should advertise, depends upon whether your business is 
retail and local — or wholesale and national. Even if it is the 
latter, you must nevertheless know something of the retail. 
The local problem is fundamental to any advertising plan. 
For a nation is only a collection of towns and counties. 

There are about one million retail stores in the United 
States. Many of them are general, but hundreds of thou- 
sands of them are special. Many are the result of accident. 
Others have been planned — even to the extent of their being 
part of a chain of several thousand stores, as, for example, the 
five- and ten-cent store syndicates and the A & P groceries. 

Usually a store's "product" — that is, its merchandise — is 
the result of the kind of patronage which the store enjoys. 
The dealer keeps what his trade wants, and what his trade 
wants often depends upon the location. This factor, in turn, 
determines what kind of people come into his store. 

There are half a million "neighborhood" stores — little 
grocery stores and corner candy stores. They are the out- 
come of the public's desire for convenience. Their best ad- 
vertising is possibly the handbill which boys distribute through 
the neighborhood on Friday to announce special "bargains" 
for Saturday. Such advertising, plus a clean store, attrac- 
tive windows, and courteous treatment, are the first trade 
attracters for such merchants. But, if such a dealer desires 
to expand his business into a city-wide store, or to duplicate 
his store by the establishment of others here and there 
throughout the city, then he must use advertising more 
thoroughly. He must find out what his "product" is — that 

95 



96 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

is, what his goods are, and to whom they will appeal. This 
investigation will determine where he shall locate his stores, 
and, also, what kind of a merchandising policy he shall follow. 

Instead of an aggressive phase of a store's business, adver- 
tising may be a necessary defense. This is particularly true 
of the smaller communities, where more and more the mail- 
order houses are fighting for a foothold and wielding their 
wonderful weapons of publicity. When these distant mer- 
cantile institutions do get the trade, it is because they know 
how to advertise. It is their presentation of picture and price 
which starts the orders through the mails to such an extent 
that the letters received by some mail-order houses keep 
many mo tor- trucks busy every day — just to carry the orders 
from the post-office to the office-building. 

But before you advertise, analyze. Analysis is the best 
way to find out anything. First, analyze the kind of store 
you have. Is it high-grade ? Does it make its appeal 
through quality? Or is it popular because you can make 
low prices? If it is of the exclusive type, you can count but 
a small part of the population as possible prospects. If your 
trade is built on good values and occasional or frequent bar- 
gains (which are extra good values), then the majority of the 
rank and file are potential customers. In such a case, the 
bigger your business the greater your gains, for even though 
you make but little on each sale, you can depend upon vol- 
ume of business for your profit. 

To determine what class of trade to go after you should 
know the statistics of your community. You should know 
that in the ordinary town of half a million, over one-third of 
the population have an income of less than $50 a week per 
family. So, if you go after that less than $50-per-week kind 
of trade, you may have many customers. But, your sales 
will mostly be of the necessities of life. You must talk to 
such people plainly. You cannot whisper to them in grace- 
ful similes. You must speak out in plain English. To in- 
duce them to enter your store, you cannot rely on a subtle 
style. Your argument must tingle with economy, durabilr 
ity, and dollar-and-cent quality. 




L 

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J* 






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ourseir in 



\Jfteres an c/ng^Ma 



^luitwiZeed 



-ra 



Pan=American ^*^ 

Official Souvenir ^ 



Q 



o 



YANKEE S|.0J 
ECLIPSE ${Jfj 
TRIUMPHS | ]h 
GOTHAM $2|0 




£b« 



r ^]1 DOLbAR 

^WATCH 




Ul'ilHJ 



A s : 



rojr ti .s INGERSOLL 
eahm at -he "Rut-Am.* 
the? typify »0» Century" 

by a :Ar^c "IfigttwV in 



100 



Top "ad" is of 1920 — lower 
one of 1900. The latter was 
crude but possessed good selling 
value. Picture and price are 
also featured in (the "Find- 
Yourself - in - this - Picture" ad- 
vertisement. Carl R. Hoff- 
mann, Ingersoll advertising man- 
ger, says: "This is the best 
merchandising 'ad' of the year. 
We have found that people are 
curious enough to find them- 
selves in the picture or in the list, whichever the case happens to be, and 
then to study the watches that are designated for their use. We always 
feel that we can depend on an advertisement of this kind when we really 
need business." 

97 



AMittft ROBT.'H. INGERS.OLL &BRO. Dt.pt, 53 

07 CORTI ANDT hT. NOV ^OKK Cl» ~> 



98 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

When you know who your possible customers are, and 
what you have to offer them, your next analysis will lead you 
to the question of how to bring the people to your goods. 
You must find out how to rouse a desire for your goods in 
your prospects in the quickest and most economical way. 

Of all the possible natural virtues in a retailer's advertis- 
ing, that of timeliness is perhaps the greatest aid to success. 
Timeliness can be created. For instance, if a store in a 
neighboring city has burned down, you can arrange for a 
sale of the remaining goods, and in that way capitalize the 
element of timeliness. This kind of strategy may be some- 
what artificial, but in sales of bought-up bankrupt stocks, 
this application of the timeliness appeal often has a sound 
basis on the fact that in this way exceptional merchandise- 
values are really made possible. 

But no healthy, substantial, permanent business success 
can be built up with the bankrupt or fire-sale idea as its back- 
bone. The main appeal of most goods is simply that they 
are less in price — either less than they were, or less than the 
usual prices in other stores. 

The right appeal may make a success of an advertising cam- 
paign which otherwise would fail. An example of this is 
the experience of a certain piano store in a Western town. 
Business was dull. The proprietor tried slashes in prizes, 
contests, and all that sort of thing, apparently without suc- 
cess. Finally, he hit upon a new idea. He created this 
theme for his advertising: "Keep the young folks at home." 
This set the mothers and the fathers in the vicinity to think- 
ing. Here was a vital reason why they should buy a piano. 
Business came fast as a result. 

"How much shall I spend?" is another problem that con- 
fronts the retail advertiser. A big department store can 
afford to spend from 2 to 3% of its gross income. A store 
just beginning generally has to spend a higher percentage of 
its gross income than does the store already established. 
One of New York's greatest department stores spent 5% of 
its gross income for years, until it got a firm foothold ; but now 
the name of that store is known to everybody, and its present 
advertising expenditure is only about 3%. 



PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS BY RETAIL ADVERTISER 99 

Some department stores have to continue to spend much 
more than others to get business. For instance, in a certain 
coast city the owners of one big institution found that their 
advertising averaged a return of about $100 worth of business 
for every inch of newspaper space they used, whereas another 
similar institution in the same city secured only $60 worth of 
business for each inch of space. Experience is the guide to 
the knowledge of how much to spend. Your solution de- 
pends largely on what kind of a store you have. In a specialty 
store, for instance, it is not too much to appropriate 5% for 
advertising, based on the total volume of sales. If your store 
does $100,000 worth of business a year in a specialty line, you 
can well afford to pay $5,000 a year for advertising. And 
if you do $500,000 worth of business you can afford to pay 
$25,000 a year for advertising. This principle covers all 
specialty stores in furniture and in women's apparel. Also 
it holds true in regard to installment houses. 

But when you come to groceries the advertising could not 
be 5%. The margin is so small that 5% expense in advertis- 
ing would probably cause the year to show a loss rather than 
a profit. Even the big grocery retailer who seeks to reach 
the public through newspaper advertising must keep his 
advertising appropriation down around 2 or 2>^%; if he does 
$100,000 worth of business, his advertising would probably 
cost $2,000 or $2,500. 

This principle may vary even with grocery stores if they 
have other departments in connection with them which will 
yield sufficient profit to warrant an additional advertising 
expense. A store which deals in drugs in addition to gro- 
ceries may be able to spend 3 to 4% on advertising, while a 
big store selling only groceries will not. The reason is that 
the profit on drugs is great enough to absorb some of the 
expense involved in the extra advertising of the store which 
carries that long-margin merchandise in addition to groceries. 

The healthiest sign in connection with any retail store is 
an increase in business and a decrease in advertising ex-, 
pense. The proportionate advertising expense may decrease 
as the volume of business increases if the advertising has both 



100 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

selling-value and also that subtler value of confidence creation 
which builds up a clientele. This is illustrated by the fact 
that in one city a department store was doing $3,000,000 
worth of business on an expenditure of 2}4%> The "copy" 
was written by a certain advertising manager who changed 
his position. He went down the street to another depart- 
ment store, which was spending 4% of its gross revenue on 
advertising. But this latter department store continued to 
spend 4%, even though the advertising was now directed by 
the same man who had been able to get the business for the 
other store on an expenditure of 2}4%. The reason was 
that the public had more faith in the announcements of the 
former store. Therefore, each inch of space pulled more 
trade than did that of the other store; and so, though one 
used more advertising than the other, the expense on a per- 
centage basis was only 2]/ 2 % in the first case and 4% in the 
other. 

If yours is an exclusive specialty store, basing its appeal 
on style, yet doing business in the same way as a big de- 
partment store, then your best advertising may be to estab- 
lish yourself next to a big department store, so as to make the 
smartness of your window display divert trade your way. 
But you may also need a fairly large "ad" now and then to 
suggest the superior style and the low prices which your 
specialization is supposed to accomplish. If your specialty 
store's appeal is wider — if, for instance, you do a credit 
clothing business — then a greater volume is possible. If 
such a store has a possible popular appeal, you can afford to 
advertise much more extensively than the other of more lim- 
ited possible patronage. 

The classified columns of the newspapers are sometimes a 
profitable means of publicity. For instance, a little store on 
a side street may advertise quite effectively by using the 
"Want Ad" columns. As no merchant can afford to spend 
more than a certain proportion of the amount of business 
that it is possible to get, it would be wasteful for the usual 
small side-street merchant to try to use large "ads" in the 
ordinary display columns of a big newspaper. He can prob- 



PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS BY RETAIL ADVERTISER 101 

ably get as much business as he can take care of if he uses 
the "Want Ads" judiciously. 

The average retail advertiser has to pay to-morrow's ex- 
penses out of to-day's receipts. Retail advertising must ba 
of the action-producing kind. Of course it aims to create a 
flavor — to build an institutional atmosphere in favor of the 
store. But above all, it seeks to make to-day's advertising 
pay for itself in to-morrow's sales. 

To sell is the main aim of retail advertising. But this 
selling must be accomplished in a careful way. Your store 
may increase its business materially for a time if you use 
exaggeration in your "ads." But, exaggeration does not pay 
in the long run. It does not build good-will. It does not 
bring customers back to you again — which, after all, is the 
real purpose of attracting people to your store. You can't 
exaggerate for more than a few days, or for a few weeks. 
For, at the end of that time, you will probably either have 
to change your store's name, or move. 

Meanwhile, the first dollars spent on such advertisements 
may seem to pull good response; but gradually people dis- 
cover your deceit, and, as time goes on, instead of a dollar's 
worth of advertising attracting $50 worth of business, it will 
bring diminishing returns, and sooner or later will mean 
failure for any retail merchant. The retail store depends for 
its success on the cumulative result that comes from the fact 
that the customer of to-day gets some one else as an addi- 
tional customer for to-morrow. So — although your primary 
aim is to sell — you must always temper your copy with the 
understanding that your final success must be built on the 
favorable atmosphere that comes from honest advertising. 

Part of the value of your advertising will consist in the 
cumulative good-will publicity which will incidentally result 
from the selling effectiveness of your copy. Your advertising 
must not only carry your message to the old friends of your 
store, it must make them more friendly, and it must also 
make new friends for you if your business is to grow. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Analysis of Retail Appeal 

If you use many pages in boastful description of the qual- 
ity of your merchandise you will not get as much direct re- 
sult as with less space devoted to a straight description of 
values. Why should people come into your store to-morrow 
if they simply know your goods are good ? They can come 
in the next day just as well. But if you advertise a bargain 
— well, that's different. That particular lot of goods may all 
be sold out by to-morrow afternoon. Therefore, the public 
'decides it is better to come in to-morrow morning. This fact 
of human nature makes price the dominant feature in retail 
advertising. 

Now and then you find exceptions from this general prin- 
ciple that retail advertising must be done through price em- 
phasis. If yours is a "class" store, such as an exclusive 
furniture store, you may ignore price. In this case, your 
business will be comparatively small. You can grow grad- 
ually without the use of the price appeal. But a store which 
seeks a universal business, which tries to win trade in the 
east, north, south, and west side of the community, can 
hardly get along without the price appeal. 

One big store recently tried to prove that this principle was 
wrong. They sought to establish a theory that people do 
not want prices and that they seek simply the knowledge 
that the goods can be had at a fair price. So this concern 
discontinued newspaper advertising and put its messages on 
outdoor, painted bulletin-boards. One sign announced that 
kitchen utensils could be bought at this store. Another spe- 
cialized on cut glass, etc. These announcements simply told 
the people what could be had at that store at "reasonable 
prices." This method was supposed to bring as much trade 



ANALYSIS OF RETAIL APPEAL IO3 

to the store as if prices were emphasized. But the experi- 
menter had to go back into the newspapers. Now he is try- 
ing to make his newspaper copy carry that same kind of 
message. But such a message has little appeal; it does not 
persuade — it simply advises. It merely says in effect: "We 
are doing business, and we are handling merchandise and we 
won't overcharge you." 

Price, nine times out of ten, is the appeal that wins. But 
price in itself does not insure success. There has to be real 
service along with price. Service is of vital importance even 
when price competition is keen. Service means good quality, 
general courtesy, and helpfulness, the ability to handle a per- 
son's business a little better, a little more satisfactorily than 
the other fellow. In fact, certain stores can sell on service 
entirely, stores such as high-class florists, or high-grade jewel- 
lers; but most stores must win their patrons on the ground that 
customers cannot only get good service but also save money 
if they buy from that particular store. 

In the matter of "copy" the necessity for price emphasis 
may carry the advertiser into a danger — he is apt to make 
his "ad" a veritable price-list. In some cases you may sim- 
ply record cut prices and win out; but as a rule the adver- 
tiser who keeps away from the catalogue style and puts into 
his price argument a further appeal, based on quality or 
utility, is likely to succeed better than the man who simplv 
lists his prices. 

Between the kind of retail advertising which merely lists a 
lot of prices and the style which devotes itself exclusively to 
a single article there is a golden mean. This is the advertis- 
ing which comprises many items, yet gives each item a con- 
centration, just as if it were a unit "ad" in itself. All these 
units are harmonized under one theme, and the entire "ad" 
is a harmonious whole. Many good examples of this are 
found in the advertising of big department stores. This 
kind of "copy" unifies the message. It tells one thing at a 
time. One "ad" may cover fifty different things, but each 
item is made a separate "rifle-shot." Each is blocked off in 
an effective way. This makes it easy for the eye to scan the 



104 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

"ad" and find something of especial interest. And when the 
eye does stop at something that appeals, the reader receives 
more than just the price. She is subjected to persuasion 
which tends to create desire — to make her want to buy 
whether she had expected to or not. 

" Specialty " stores — such as those which specialize in haber- 
dashery or men's apparel, or in women's apparel, or in high- 
class furniture — have found that the best kind of an advertise- 
ment is the kind that talks about one thing and covers it 
fully. For the main appeals of stores like these must be ser- 
vice, or style, or exclusiveness rather than price. Such a 
store, therefore, usually concentrates the entire "ad" on one 
specific thing. 

For instance, in advertising fine furniture, this is what one 
successful specialty merchant does: He shows a picture of a 
chair and describes its exquisite beauty and fine workmanship; 
he phrases and pictures the product in the most alluring way, 
without mention of price. The price of so exquisite a chair 
is probably secondary in the eyes of those exclusive few to 
whom this class of goods will appeal. Such people are more 
impressed by suggestion of style or prestige, or artistic origin, 
than by mere dollar-saving. In this sort of exclusive specialty- 
store advertising, unification of copy may be best — even to 
the extent of making one "ad" speak only of one article. 
Here the task is to create desire to such a degree that price 
can be entirely ignored. 

There are many other retail advertisers besides the depart- 
mental institutions and the specialty stores. Automobile 
agencies come under the retail class, although, really, their ad- 
vertising is simply localized national advertising. Insurance 
offices come under the retail advertising class. Dairy com- 
panies, public-utility corporations, and other organizations of 
that kind are also in this category. But with most of these 
there is no problem as to whether to include many, few, or 
only one item in their advertising "copy." The object of 
their advertising is usually a single thing on which they can 
concentrate with an appeal filled with persuasive suggestion. 

The small retailer has to get more business with propor- 



The recent advertisement 
at right, as well as the 
twenty-year-old one below, 
shows the kind of illustration 
that demonstrates what the 
product is and how it works. 
The use of children in the 
modern picture is a step for- 
ward. 




S|00 PER SECTION 



"jntssar 




SECTIONAL 

BOOKCASE 

;:. only kind having Absolutely 

NON-BINDINC and 
SELF-DISAPPEARING 
DOORS (patented) 

'•On Approvnl,"sulj«tt 



The FRED MACEY CO. Ltd. 



ihlMt, Softloo O O, Manufatt« 



In referring to the "ad" 
at the right, R. G. Burns, 
advertising manager of the 
Macey Company, says: 
"We consider this the best 
advertisement we have ever 
produced, because one of the 
greatest selling arguments for 
a Sectional Bookcase is the 
fact that the initial installa- 
tion can be small and added 
to as the family needs more 
room for their books. We 
think that the caption 'Ex- 
panding Minds need Expand- 
ing Bookcases' very well 
expresses everything there is 
to be said about our Sec- 
tional Bookcases." 



Expanding 
Minds Need 
panding Bookcases 

A child instinctively seeks knowl- 
dge. Encourage the use of proper 
ooks and you mould a voluntary 
Grand Rapids, Mkh. [esire for education. 

Macey bookcases were made sec- 
ional that they might expand -and 
care for a growing library. They lend 
themselves to present day limita- 
tions of wall space as no other type 
of bookcase can. They interpret period 
designs with pleasing simplicity. 
They do not look sectional— but they are. 
You would like them in your home. 
Made in Grand Rapids- 
Sold Everywhere. 
Catalog on request. 

THE MACEY COMPANY 
Grand Rapids. Michigan 




105 



106 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

tionately less advertising expense. To do this his copy must 
breed confidence and create a permanent clientele. If he 
fails to build up a patronage of people who automatically 
come to his store for their needs (whether they come as a re- 
sult of an advertised bargain or not) then his volume of busi- 
ness is apt to be entirely dependent on his advertising. His 
business then will be proportionately smaller than if he also 
possessed a cumulative patronage. 

This is the usual misfortune of the store that exaggerates. 
There are many tragic examples of stores which used to lead, 
but which are now second-raters — and for no other reason 
than that their advertising was insincere. Most states now 
have laws which make it a misdemeanor to employ fraud- 
ulent advertising. Several stores have been prosecuted for 
statements that certain goods were worth more than they 
really were. One big store was prosecuted and its manager 
was arrested because he advertised a piano for $125 which he 
said was worth $250. Experts proved in court that the 
piano was not worth $250. But the legal dangers of exag- 
geration in advertising are not as great as the terrible peril 
that ten years from now a business may go to smash simply 
because a merchant allows exaggeration in his advertising 
to-day. 

The undermining process of exaggeration is subtle. It be- 
comes visible slowly. Public suspicion gradually results from 
untruthful "copy." This takes patronage away from the 
store. The merchant may go on for a long time and seem to 
get more business. But the biggest community is so small 
that eventually this kind of policy proves suicidal. People 
compare notes and gradually the tide turns against the store. 

But most merchants nowadays keep clear of old-time 
circus methods of exaggeration. They know too well this 
rigid principle of advertising. They know that if they stoop 
to deceptive advertising their copy will pull less and less as 
the years go on, and instead of building the business, will tend 
to undermine it. 

Although most retail advertisers take their advertising 
seriously, and realize how much it costs, and appreciate that 



ANALYSIS OF RETAIL APPEAL 107 

it is the only way to increase their business, the average re- 
tailer pays too little attention to his advertising. The reason 
lies, as usual, in human nature. It is easier to buy than to 
sell. Any one would rather sit in an office and have a sales- 
man try to get him to buy something than to sit down and 
work out some scheme with ink and paper by which to make 
people feel that they ought to come and buy something from 
him. 

The usual retailer is therefore likely to be just a " buyer." 
Of course he has to buy his merchandise wisely, so as to give 
proper value; but if he paid as keen attention to the sales 
development of his business — to the advertising of his busi- 
ness — he would progress with greater strides. No matter 
what values you have to offer, if people don't know about them 
they are well-nigh worthless; no matter how desirable your 
goods may be, if you don't create a desire in their favor you 
fall short. 

Newspapers find that specialty-store merchants, who spend 
several thousands a year in advertising, frequently try to 
write their "ads" in five minutes, "while the boy waits." 
Some of them hand in an "ad" to occupy a large space, and 
yet they sketch it on the back of a calling card. 

There are some retailers who so clearly visualize the pur- 
pose of their advertising that they have their advertisements 
set up by their own printers. In this way a store can radiate 
an atmosphere of artistic distinction. Many a wise adver- 
tiser spends an extra $10 or so every time he prepares an 
"ad," simply in order to get the prettiest border, the most 
attractive kind of type, and the daintiest possible taste into 
his store announcements. He has his own printer compose 
the type and turn the completed form over to the newspaper 
— despite the fact that he could get the newspaper to set up 
the "ad" gratis if he were content with ordinary typography. 

Another very important detail in advertising is that of 
"position." Specialty stores, as a rule, appeal to either men 
or women, cr to some definite class. Such advertisers have 
to choose where, in a particular newspaper, their "ad" will 
do the most good. A haberdasher, for instance, may want 



108 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

to be on the sporting page. A department store may put one 
little "ad" opposite the women's or the society page, and 
then place their large "ad" wherever they can. The little 
"ad" calls attention to their main announcement on another 
page. Some big stores believe in this method so thoroughly 
that they have their general "ad" on the back page of the 
newspaper and their particular items, referring to women's 
garments and so on, on the women's page, and their "ads" 
of men's garments on the men's page. 

When it comes to "Want Ads," attention to position may 
pay. You should be careful to select the proper classifica- 
tion. And even the small merchant in the country uncon- 
sciously pays close attention to position. You will see in 
almost any weekly paper of towns of less than 10,000, little 
items in regard to bargains at the local store interspersed 
among the local news paragraphs. Sometimes these are put 
in among the personals, and sometimes among bits of local 
news. Such advertising frequently costs more than the 
usual rate. In the usual small paper, where the regular inch 
rate may be 15 cents or 10 cents, the rate for these local items 
may figure up to 30 cents or 60 cents per inch. Preferred 
position is the reason why the local advertiser uses those 
expensive little local lines instead of regular display space. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Methods of Retail Advertising 

Newspaper advertising is not the only kind that the re- 
tailer may profitably use. The circular letter is often effec- 
tive, although it is hard to make this kind of "direct" adver- 
tising yield an adequate profit, because, as compared with the 
newspaper, it costs so much to print and mail. The news- 
paper will reach over 5,000 people at approximately less than 
a cent per line. The circular cannot reach 1,000 people for 
under $25. 

Here again it depends on the kind of merchandise which 
you have to advertise. If yours is a high-priced specialty 
with a strong appeal to a certain class, you may be able to 
construct a selected mailing list. In such a case, the goods 
sold may yield you so wide a magrin of profit that the cir- 
cular will more than pay for itself; at least waste circulation 
will be practically eliminated. But for a business which 
seeks customers from all classes of people, and which works 
on a limited margin of profit, it is difficult to use the expen- 
sive circular for general attraction of trade. 

The biggest merchants use "direct" advertising — but al- 
ways as a secondary method — merely to reinforce the news- 
paper advertising. A large department store may have a 
mailing list of 50,000. With electric addressing-machines 
and mechanical folding devices it is possible to put out cir- 
culars to all these customers. Even such stores very seldom 
attempt this mailing, except as a supplement to newspaper 
advertising and in connection with a few special sales. 
When a store has a long list of charge customers to whom 
monthly statements must be sent, any circulars may be en- 
closed in the envelopes with the bills. Such direct mail work 
is likely to pay for itself because there is no expense for 
postage. 

109 



IIO. A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Many retailers advertise with novelties, specialties, and 
souvenirs. These are not supposed to sell anything. They 
seldom result in direct returns which will pay for their ex- 
pense. They are simply meant as builders of good-will 
toward the merchant who pays for them. Their cost per 
person reached is greater by far than the most expensive 
newspaper or the most elaborate piece of mail matter. 

There is no question but that there is only one sure medium 
for the retail advertiser who is big enough to serve a com- 
munity-wide trade — and that medium is the newspaper. If 
the advertiser is so localized that he can only serve people 
around his particular neighborhood, then the circular distrib- 
uted by the boy after school may be best. But if he is, or 
can become, of sufficient size to make a bid for business al- 
most anywhere in his community, then the newspaper is the 
medium, first, last, and always. One reason for this is that 
the newspaper enjoys a home interest. It has a personal ap- 
peal — it deals with local affairs of intimate interest to every 
reader. It tells of the actions of the city government, to 
which the reader pays taxes, or records the demolition of a 
building which the reader has frequently seen. It has an 
ever-fresh appeal. It quickens the reader's interest every 
day, if it be a daily — or every week, if it be a weekly. It 
always offers something new. 

A painted sign may seek to advertise a certain kind of shoe. 
You may pass this sign every day, yet you will really see it 
about once every three months; and possibly you may not 
consciously see it even then. The sign has no fresh appeal. 
You may know that it is there, but after your first attentive 
glance it fails to open your mind enough further to stimulate 
it. It possesses nothing new enough, or personal enough, to 
attract your repeated attention. 

A good newspaper is a sort of institution. Men will almost 
fight for their favorite newspapers. A paper may gain as 
strong a hold upon a man, almost, as his church. The ma- 
jority of people owe nearly all they know to their newspaper. 
In a political campaign a newspaper often shows its poten- 
tial power. What the paper says carries weight — that is, if 



Above is a 
Filene "ad" 
of years ago 
(1901). This 
featured a Bar- 
gain Sale. Fi- 
lene has dis- 
continued Bar- 
gain Sales and 
the modern ad- 
vertisement at 
the right shows 
how Filene 
stimulates 
business daily. 



Anniversary Week Sale. 



iSsi] [foli and Li 


1 Before We (km 


iiylheNcwSton. \*-»~t 





blue [>lnte 




weddings 

Fur trimmed Bolivia wraps our proud boast at s 75 
and their sequel? fur trimmed coats, at $ SS 

-1 Q.\ one trawl it group of beautiful »r.)ps 




MM 



ft 



BLACK HATS 



w 



LONG WHITE 

KTD GLOVES 
H.50 



Poire/ »ri«J™™ /" pp ARI S % 
at a small price * rLrtRLJ 8 

$15,000 worth P 




Sailor dresses 
Bo-peep dr.* 



■i 






skirt-Wth knickers, '5 



Now, yiw/ as 40 years ago — •• Your dollars go farther at Fileiie's'' 



Typographically the announcement at top featuring Filene's Tenth 
Anniversary Week is rather uninviting compared to the recent announce- 
ment below, which is open, easy to read, comprehensive, and forceful. 

Ill 



112 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

it is an honest newspaper. If it is not honest people do not 
believe in it. No matter how clever or verbally forceful its 
assertions may be, such a paper will not carry weight, even 
though its circulation may be as big as that of any paper 
in town. 

A real paper with a time-tried clientele has, therefore, the 
power to carry any message; that is why it can carry adver- 
tising messages to the profit of the advertiser. These facts 
make the question of newspaper rates a hard puzzle. No one 
can arbitrarily say, for instance, that each thousand of cir- 
culation is worth a quarter of a cent per line, because it is not 
worth that in some papers, and in others it may be worth 
more; for some papers are almost Bibles in the homes into 
which they go. 

A puzzling question in retail advertising is whether to use 
the morning or the afternoon papers? The answer depends 
on the papers. One morning paper may actually go into 
more homes than any evening paper in the community. It 
may reach more women. And yet, for advertising things 
which appeal to women, it is usually argued that the evening 
paper is the one to use. The evening paper holds that the 
housewife does not have time during the day to look at the 
morning paper, whereas she reads the evening paper in her 
leisure hours. But here, too, any effort at a definite law is 
worthless. The soundest principle is simply that the best 
paper is the one which will reach the greatest number of 
prospects in the strongest way at the lowest cost. 

There are many store conditions which tend to determine 
a retailer's advertising methods. For instance, whether your 
" ads" should appear on Monday, or Wednesday, or Friday, or 
when, is a question which depends on the kind of store — and 
an analysis of your individual problem. If you are adver- 
tising bargains in competition with all the other stores in 
town, you will probably want your advertising to appear the 
day previous to the one which is most commonly regarded as 
"Bargain Day" in your town. In some cities, by common 
consent, Friday is "Bargain Day." Consequently, Thursday 
is a good time to advertise, if you offer bargains in general 



METHODS OF RETAIL ADVERTISING 113 

competition. The shopping public will be down-town on 
Friday, and it is easier to get them to walk from some other 
store to yours than it is to persuade them to take the trouble 
to come all the way down-town just to look over the mer- 
chandise you advertise. 

Some advertisers may better choose other days than Thurs- 
day and Friday. If your "ad" is in a paper containing a 
thousand "ads," it is less effective than if it were in one con- 
taining a hundred. If, therefore, you need not depend upon 
the Friday shopping crowd, perhaps you had better use the 
Saturday or Monday editions, when the paper will have 
fewer "ads" against which yours must compete. There is 
no rule as to this point, either. It depends entirely on the 
particular store. In fact, many stores find it profitable to 
go into the papers on Sunday. The theory is that despite the 
vast amount of advertising on that day, people have more 
time on Sunday to study over the advertisements. 

But there is one little point in connection with retail news- 
paper advertising to which the wise retailer is giving atten- 
tion, more and more every day. That is the co-operation on 
the part of the sales people in the store. Formerly, the usual 
advertiser would simply trust that the people in the store 
would see the store's advertising in the papers. Now he 
makes his staff look at the announcements. Store efficiency 
demands that sales people keep up with the store's adver- 
tising. Copies of each day's "ads" are usually posted around 
every good store. In some stores the management actually 
holds classes to explain the things offered, so that every em- 
ployee will be intelligent when a customer comes in as the 
result of the advertising. 

In the last analysis the sales person is the biggest factor 
in advertising. The vice-president of a nationally-known 
glove industry recently stated that in seven cases out of ten 
the sales person determines what brand of glove a woman 
shall buy. Most people think that actual public demand is 
all-powerful. But in reality the demand is largely in the 
sales person's mind. To illustrate that fact a manufacturer 
told this story about a store in Detroit: The manager of the 



114 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

glove department said to him: "We can't sell your brand- 
the demand is for such-and-such a glove." The manufac- 
turer asked him how he knew. "Why," replied the buyer, 
"nine people out of ten who come in here for gloves ask for 
your competitor's brand." 

The manufacturer challenged the truth of the buyer's con- 
clusion. To test it out they stood by the glove counter and 
watched. Of seven people who came in for gloves not one 
asked for any particular brand. They all simply asked for 
"a pair of gloves," and the sales girl said: "You mean such- 
and-such a glove?" In most cases the customer said "Yes." 
In this way the "demand" in the mind of the sales girl was 
interpreted by the department manager as a real demand in 
the mind of the public. And so the co-operation of the deal- 
er's sales people is about the biggest asset a manufacturer 
can get in his retail distribution — and, likewise, this same 
intra-store co-operation is necessary to the dealer if he is to 
make his advertising approach the ideal of efficiency. 

There are a good many advertising aids which the retail 
advertiser can get at no expense to himself. These are the 
helps which manufacturers offer. These may be window 
displays, or even circular letters which the manufacturer will 
get out and mail to the retailer's customers in behalf of the 
retailer. Many manufacturers will supply the retailer with 
free booklets with the dealer's name imprinted on the back. 
These advertise the manufacturer's product which the re- 
tailer has on sale. Some manufacturers even offer moving 
signs, costing from $10 to $30 apiece. These are loaned 
absolutely without charge to the dealer. 

The wise dealer can use a good many of these helps. If, 
with these, he uses some newspaper advertising, he can build 
up a strong demand in favor of his merchandise. This 
co-operative advertising makes the store's publicity less ex- 
pensive and more effective, and means more business for the 
dealer. 

When special window displays, especially personal demon- 
strations, are arranged, it is sometimes profitable for the 
dealer to pay half the expense and the manufacturer the other 



METHODS OF RETAIL ADVERTISING 115 

half. This, too, depends upon conditions. It the dealer 
handles the goods exclusively it is more logical for him to 
divide the expense than if every rival merchant in town also 
has them on sale. But the mere loaning of a window to 
advertise a manufacturer's product costs a dealer money. 

Good window space on a popular street makes a retail 
store rental worth over twice what it should otherwise cost. 
In other words, a thousand feet of floor space in an obscure 
street will cost, say $3,000 a year, while that same floor 
space on a prominent street will cost $10,000 a year. This 
$7,000 more is the cost of location — partly convenience of 
location and also because the windows invite the passers-by 
and thus attract trade into the store. 

The average dealer does not realize how expensive his win- 
dows are, and so many a window goes undressed. Big de- 
partment stores do realize. They know that their windows 
are worth all the attention they can give them. They know 
that a window is like a newspaper. To use it as an advertis- 
ing medium costs nothing but a little labor. Even a small 
dealer can get from manufacturers all sorts of help with which 
to keep the windows continually fresh and attractive. Fre- 
quent change of window is as important as change in news- 
paper copy. 

These same principles apply to counter display, by the ar- 
rangement of attractive features and a general and particular 
presentation of merchandise. In former days necessaries like 
dress goods, silks, and cottons were put near the front. Now- 
adays luxuries and semi-luxuries, things that appeal to the 
vanity, to the eye, are put to the front where people have to 
pass them before getting to the necessities; for people will go 
anywhere for necessities — even to the topmost floor of a 
store. 

Retail advertising has produced too many freakish methods. 
Cleverness is good while the line of cleverness is new, but 
when it gets old it creates a sorry spectacle. As a result, the 
clever kinds of advertising — far-fetched contests, such as 
guessing the number of beans in a jar in a window, and many 
other stunts of that sort — are rapidly becoming obsolete. 



Il6 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Meanwhile, the value of straightforward publicity, by which 
you tell people what you have and the reasons why they 
ought to buy from you, is becoming ever more widely appre- 
ciated. 



CHAPTER XV 

Advertising's Part in Department Stores 

The department-store merchant has advertising problems 
beyond those which confront the usual retailer, because the 
merchandise he sells covers so wide a range — almost every- 
thing from pins to pianos, from garden seeds and tools to 
diamonds. The machinery of a department store's activities 
is tremendous. Because of its peculiar organization and its 
size it has developed an organization peculiar to itself. 

A department store should be distinctive. It should be- 
come an institution. To some stores people grow so loyal 
that they swear by them. They would not go to others. 
They talk of them as if they were part of their lives. They 
even argue for them as against the favorite store of some one 
else. Almost every department store, no matter how big, 
possesses a personality of its own. Perhaps it may depend 
upon a certain kind of service, or an atmosphere. If it lacks 
personality — if it is just a huge, lifeless project — then it must 
depend entirely on low price to be even a mediocre success. 

How can a store build up this distinctiveness? That is 
the greatest question the department store has to face. It 
can help create this distinctive atmosphere through adver- 
tising. One store accompanies its dignified Cheltenham style 
of typography with dainty illustrations. Another store seems 
to use naught but square-cornered, black-face Gothic. Yet, 
many a time a person will go into the former store and ask 
for something that has been advertised by the latter — and 
vice versa. It is possible, nevertheless, to build up distinc- 
tiveness by means of advertising, but a concomitant with this 
must be a steady effort to make a store's service and its 
whole atmosphere individual. 

The effort to individualize a department store applies to 

117 



Il8 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

the merchandise itself. Some department stores want to be 
themselves and nothing else. Many department stores even 
insist that all their stock bear their own trade-mark. One 
institution in New York, which does a business of $30,000,000, 
has hardly a nationally advertised trade-mark in the entire 
store. If they do use the products of nationally advertised 
industries, they call them by some brand of their own. They 
refuse to carry nationally advertised goods, even though they 
lose money thereby. They want their store to be absolutely 
distinctive. They desire even more than a mere atmosphere 
of their own ; they want all their wares to stand in the store's 
own name. They will not push any particular manufacturer's 
line in any way lest they help to build up a demand for his 
goods in their store; for if they should push a maker's brand, 
the manufacturer would have the upper hand and could make 
them buy his goods at his own terms; — that is what they 
fear. 

"We have to stand behind our goods, anyway. If anything 
goes wrong we have to make good. Why, then, shouldn't we 
brand them with our own name as long as we are held re- 
sponsible for what we sell ? " That is the way the manager of 
a big Eastern department store sums up this tendency to bury 
the manufacturers' trade-marks and push the store's own 
private brands. 

But there is another side to this question worthy of serious 
consideration for the average, for the majority of stores. 
Many millions of dollars are spent by national advertisers. 
Their goods are already half sold by their own advertising. 
Often no more is necessary than for the local store to say 
that it sells such and such products — or merely to show them. 
Many of the new school of merchants are taking advantage 
of the tremendous national advertising force to which they 
can very profitably tie their stores. 

Although it is true that many big institutions prefer to 
push goods under their own trade-marks, some stores boast 
of the number of factory-trade-branded lines that they carry. 
And there is one exception to any department store's ten- 
dency to keep away from nationally advertised goods — that 



At left, an advertise- 
ment of twenty years 
ago. Below, a double- 
spread of recent days. 
The contrast suggests 
"from the ridiculous to 
the sublime." 




SBfe NEW EDISON 



NEW EDISON 



This advertisement is not as "clever" — it is not so unusual — it probably 
attracts less attention than the jackass and cupid in the former "ad" 
shown above. But what good is attention if it be not favorable? What 
does cleverness gain when it calls attention toward itself and away from 
the product? 



119 



120 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

is when it has secured exclusive rights to sell a certain well- 
known brand. 

It is natural that the advertising policy of a department 
store should largely influence its buying policy. As its mana- 
gerial organization is largely one of buyers, the very personnel 
of a big store's machinery is closely related to advertising. 
As a rule, the active head is the merchandise manager, under 
whom come the buyers. Each buyer manages a different 
department. Each buyer is really the sales manager of his 
department. 

The buyer is called a "buyer" because he spends the great- 
est amount of time in actual buying; yet the purpose of buy- 
ing is to achieve the greatest possible volume of sales. The 
better the department manager buys, the more successful he 
should be as a sales manager; but, many a very good buyer 
is a poor salesman or sales manager, and more than fortunate 
is he who possesses in a marked degree both buying ability 
and selling ability. 

Every buyer, each at the head of a different department, 
is subject to the merchandise manager, who is, indeed, the 
head buyer. It is usually he, with the advertising manager, 
who decides the broader questions in regard to advertising. 
When it comes to a decision in regard to the particular de- 
partment, the head of that department, the buyer, is called 
into the conference. Of course a buyer is responsible for the 
business of his department. If too much money is spent on 
advertising, his department may show a loss. If the wrong 
item is advertised, the desired results will be lacking. 
Therefore, the advertising expense will be too great, the net 
profit too little. For that reason the buyer has much to say 
about the advertising. 

Thus the departmental manager usually determines what 
goods shall be advertised. The choice is sometimes based on 
competition — with the aim of meeting something that has 
been advertised by some other store. Sometimes the goods 
are picked for advertisement on account of cut price — for 
instance, articles that have been bought under price, and so 
can be sold at less than usual price. Many times, however, 



ADVERTISING'S PART IN DEPARTMENT STORES 121 

the choice is simply based on the seasonal >leness of the goods. 
Of the considerations which usually determine what shall be 
selected for advertisement, timeliness is the greatest factor. 
For instance, the Christmas season calls forth certain goods to 
be advertised, regardless of whether they are practically under- 
priced or not. The summer season calls forth the advertise- 
ment of certain other seasonable goods. House-cleaning time 
occasions the advertisement of cleaning helps, furniture, and 
so on. 

Cut price is sometimes used simply to attract people to the 
store, so as to get them to buy something in addition to the 
"leader" advertised. Unfortunately, there is another con- 
sideration which often enters into retail advertising — and that 
is the amount of business done a year ago to-day. The de- 
partment manager always feels this spur of a previous record. 
Although conditions may not be ripe for him now to sell the 
same quantity of goods that he sold a year ago, yet he feels 
he is falling down if he does not equal or surpass the former 
figures. This often tempts him to use more advertising than 
he should, or to cut the price more than he ought. 

The department-store organization is managed by an exec- 
utive head, over the department heads or buyers — the men 
who direct the sales in each department. Although the buy- 
ers have to perform every kind of a duty, and are practically 
managers of the small stores which comprise the big one, they 
have little to do with credits of customers; they have nothing 
to do with the financing of the store; nor do they get up the 
"ads" in the form in which you see them in the newspapers. 
The buyer need not know much about the mechanical details 
of this phase of the work; he may not know one size of type 
from another, or a half-tone from a zinc etching; yet, really, he 
is the man who, guided and assisted by the advertising man- 
ager, constructs the advertising. And in the department- 
store business the advertising is all-important. 

A department manager must bear advertising in mind 
every time he considers the purchase of stock for his de- 
partment; always he must ask himself: "How advertisable is 
this?" He has to buy on the basis of the goods' appeal to 



122 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

his customers; he knows that he buys simply to sell, and if 
goods are to sell, they must appeal to the public. He must be 
able to offer desirable goods at a desirable price, and to do 
this he must buy with "salability " as the prime consideration. 

The advertising manager's office in a department store is, 
in a way, a clearing-house for the individual advertising ideas 
of the department heads. The manager's work is highly 
specialized. Yet it ought to be sufficiently generalized to 
bring about a harmony among all the different, and often 
very crude, advertising ideas of all these different buyers. 
His task is largely to smooth down, polish up, and present the 
advertising in an attractive and appealing form. The suc- 
cess of the appeals themselves must largely depend on the 
obvious value of the merchandise offered. Even if an adver- 
tising man has little power of diction, or display ability, or 
other elements of advertising skill, still, if he happens to be 
in a store where the merchandise is unusually salable, he 
may win out quite as well as a more brilliant advertisement 
writer. For department-store advertising is simply news; 
and if the facts are presented pleasantly they will win the 
business. 

There is very little guesswork about department-store ad- 
vertising. Every cent that is spent on publicity for a buyer 
is charged up against his department. He knows just how 
much it costs to "keep the business coming," as far as his 
particular part of the store is concerned; whether that cost 
is at a higher percentage than it was a year ago; whether he 
is getting the same amount of business that he got a year 
ago; and, with the same amount of advertising, if he is not 
getting the same amount of business, he knows he has either 
chosen the wrong goods to advertise or in some other way he 
has fallen short. 

Business conditions, weather, various other elements may 
make to-day's business different from that of a year ago. 
These points are given consideration. But still, regardless of 
all outside factors, the buyer is eternally up against the plain 
figures of the cost of his advertising as compared with the 
current volume of his department's business — and here lies 



ADVERTISING'S PART IN DEPARTMENT STORES 123 

the success or failure of a department. The department that 
does not increase in volume, is regarded as one to be watched 
by the management; yet, the department that increases in 
volume and still incurs too great an advertising expense, is 
also to be looked after. The big task is to increase the busi- 
ness and to decrease the business-getting expenditures. 

Especially when it comes to sales, the departmental buyer 
selects what stock to feature on the basis of its salability, 
which means its advertisability. All special goods which are 
thus to be featured in a sale are chosen by the buyer — often 
in collaboration with the merchandise or advertising man- 
ager, or both. The merchandise manager, who acts as a sort 
of head buyer, may suggest, and may often initiate, but, as a 
rule, it is the buyer who says: "That shall go in at 99 cents, 
and that at 46 cents." He will indicate the prices on those 
goods — sometimes so low that every such article that he sells 
will mean a loss to the store, and therefore a red mark against 
the profit of his department. 

He knowingly and willingly marks the goods below cost. 
He puts in a pair of gloves that cost him $2.05 and marks them 
$1.95. Every pair he sells means more than 10 cents out of 
the store's coffers — more, because the overhead and selling 
cost must also be added to the loss. This simply means that 
he must sell more goods at regular prices in order to make 
up for the loss. But, the buyer realizes that this is one way 
to attract people to his store, so that they may see the ser- 
vice and realize how pleasurable it is to deal there. On the 
other hand, he may choose seasonable goods for price-slash- 
ing, because if these goods are not sold when new, they will 
have to be sold later at an even greater loss. 

Most department stores are built up on advertising. And 
frequently this advertising is made successful by bargains — 
made possible by a merchandising ability. For prices, of 
themselves, will attract trade to a department store. The 
department store can afford to sell at a loss on some items, 
because it can sell enough other goods to make up for the 
losses on the advertised bargains. 

Of course all department stores do not make price the key- 



124 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

stone of their business-getting. Those few that do not must 
have some sort of an appeal of class, some exclusive quality 
of style. Even such stores are apt to resort to the price 
appeal every now and then. This sort of stimulus is less 
necessary if there is news value in the advertising — if the 
copy is of that helpful, instructive, suggestive kind which 
makes its appeal through timeliness. 

Seldom does a buyer initiate a sale in his department of 
sufficient importance to dominate the entire store, although 
this is sometimes done by furniture departments. Furniture 
sales are apt to become the major attraction of a store, for 
the reason that such merchandise brings in money so fast. 
A furniture sale may turn over $20,000 or $30,000 a day in a 
great department store, which means that the store can af- 
ford to buy a page, for instance, in the biggest newspapers, 
and yet have sufficient business to bring the cost of this page 
advertising down to 2 or 3% of the volume of consequent 
sales for that one department. But it would be impossible 
for the notion department, for instance, to hold a sale and try 
to dominate the store through page advertising. Even if a 
notion-department buyer got all the business there was in 
the city in his line on that day, he would not find enough to 
warrant the cost of big advertising on anything like a 2 or 3% 
basis. 

Sales are usually conducted on an all-embracing sales plan 
which the advertising manager of the department store con- 
ceives and conducts. Some big stores have different sales of 
this kind almost every week in the year. This week it may be 
the "Inventory" Sale — next week, the "Opportunity" Sale 
— another week, the "Anniversary" Sale, and so on, through 
the "Golden Harvest" Sale, and a lot of other such events. 
To each of these the different buyers contribute by having 
their departmental items included in the general event. 
Many old-established stores hold these sales in almost as 
conventional and inevitable rotation as the calendar itself. 
They know now just what kind of a sale they are going to 
conduct a year hence. They follow through a set schedule 
of sales events, year in and year out. 






CHAPTER XVI 

Who and Where Are the Best Prospects? 

In almost any selling problem you must analyze the pub- 
lic to find out who and where your best possible prospects 
are. Conversely, you must look at your product and decide 
to whom it is impossible to sell. If you have to advertise a 
luxury, even though it be partly a necessity, you can figure 
k that there are twenty-five million people in the United States 
who cannot afford it. Possibly you may make them buy, 
but on the basis of living expenses and income they cannot 
afford anything but bare necessities. In fact, many authori- 
ties hold that of the hundred million people in the United 
States, there are only five million families who really have 
sufficient income and enough intelligence to warrant a manu- 
facturer in advertising to them. 

Income-tax returns are a great light on the question "Who 
is able to buy?" Figures, as compiled by the Bankers Trust 
Company, showed that only 503,050 families had yearly in- 
comes of $4,000 or more — 26,000,000 families of less than 
$4,000 per year. About 85% had incomes of $1,000 or less; 
7% had incomes of $1,000 to $2,000; 5)4% incomes of $2,000 
to $4,000; and only 2}4% had incomes of $4,000 or more. Of 
course these figures are changing every year. 

A few years ago a patented piece of furniture appeared on 
the market. It was heralded as a wonderful success. Great 
factories were built to manufacture it. An advertising cam- 
paign was opened at an expenditure of $10,000 a month. 
The inventor thought the resulting royalties would make 
him rich. One of the most successful advertising managers 
in New York gave up his position to go into the project on 
a small salary, with a share of the stock. 

The article was put on the market to sell at $20. The 
average article of its kind usually brought around $7 or $8. 

125 



126 A SHORT COURSE IN ' ADVERTISING 

At $20 this specialty had too few possible prospects. A man 
who was making about $3,000 a year said it was good, but 
that he could not afford it. The fact that a family with an 
income of over $3,000 a year couldn't afford this article, 
helped to explain why the business turned out to be a flat 
failure. 

If the originators had analyzed the statistics to begin with, 
they would have known that failure was probable because at 
$20 only about 10% of the people could afford it. Then, too, 
there would be only about 5% even of those people who would 
be in the market for such an article. As a result the possible 
market was limited to less than 1% of the population; and 
yet they sought to advertise to that handful — using and pay- 
ing for the space in magazines that reached the whole nation. 

Experts have figured out that the usual $3 article will sell 
five times as easily as a $5 article. This has been proved 
in connection with specialties which, at first, were sold at 
prices which seemed exorbitant. In one case, the advertiser- 
cut the price just about in two. Then he tried out the new 
price in five towns, using the same amount of space in the 
newspaper as he had used before when his price was twice as 
much. When he figured up the amount of goods that had 
been sold in the month under the new price, he found that 
in those five towns he had sold ten times as much as under 
the old price. This man's actual net profit was doubled by 
cutting the price in two. In addition to the fact that reduced 
prices enable more people to buy, they divert existing business 
from competitors. That is why lowered prices often mean 
increased profit, especially in connection with advertised 
merchandise. 

You must not only find out who are able and likely to 
buy, but you must also find out where they are. You will 
have to decide whether to try to sell your product to the city 
trade, or the rural trade, or both. Of course, some articles 
would be for sale only in the country, and others would have 
their market only in the city; but there are many things which 
can be sold in both, and the question then is which market 
you should develop first. 



Jjocomobile 



At left — a magazine page 
of 1900. Below, the first of 
a newspaper series of 1920. 




This "ad" has these 
virtues: 1. The layout 
dominates any news- 
paper page. 2. It can- 
not fail to be read by any 
one who turns to that 
page. g 3. The message 
itself is the great central 
thought which classifies 
Locomobile. All the 
words in the language 
could not say more than 
the two which have been 
used. 4. The Hare's 
Motors symbolism of the 
artist suggests with great 
power the purposes and 
ideals of the institution 
behind the product. 



127 



128 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

For instance, suppose you are running an insurance com- 
pany. In every city there are hundreds and hundreds of in- 
surance solicitors — probably every city resident knows two 
or three people who want to sell him insurance. In the 
country, on the other hand, there are comparatively few in- 
surance agents. You might think, therefore, that you had 
better make your insurance company's advertising seek to 
sell policies by mail in the country; but as a matter of fact 
there is a greater percentage of available prospects in the 
towns and cities. One insurance company which tried out 
the agricultural press found only one rural paper which brought 
inquiries at as low a cost as the average of the publications 
which circulated in the cities. This signified that it would 
cost more to get business from the country than from the 
city. From then on the company knew where their best 
field lay. 

This question, "Who is my best prospect? "is often de- 
cided simply by the nature of the product. For instance, 
in the automobile field, if a company begins to make a car 
to sell at a low price, they know that their prospects are those 
of average means who cannot afford a big car, but who may 
be able to pay $1,000 for one. Consequently, their appeal 
must be very different from that of the makers of $5,000 cars. 
Their methods, their whole system, must be more extensive. 

In any consideration of what people comprise your best 
market, the government census statistics are of great aid. 
If it weren't for these figures, few would know that almost 
half the people in the United States live outside of the towns 
and cities — that the rural population of the United States 
two years after the war was 50,972,000 — over 6,066,000 in vil- 
lages of less than 2,500 population. And, in the matter of 
ability to purchase — the average income per family in towns 
and cities is less than $1,200 per year. In the professional 
class, lawyers, doctors, etc., the average income is not much 
over $2,000 per year; but there are 6,000,000 farmers in the 
United States who average over $2,500 a year net income 
from their farms. 

Statistics also help to answer the question as to whether 



THE PI A NOLA ITS M I 




At left, a magazine page of 
1900. Below, a magazine page of 
1920. Both advertise the same 
instrument — the Pianola. 



iaOeeh-GnclBiHy 

Introducing 

'Duo Art Pl\noia 



: n < 




T H E A K O L i A N COM PA X ^ ' M 




The old "ad" is all about "us" — "our" product and "our" mission. 
The new one is about a week-end party — about "you" and "your" good 
times. More intriguing, isn't it? 

129 



130 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

to seek to sell to men or to women. Frequently an advertiser 
may think he is selling to men when really he is selling to 
women. More men's socks are bought by women than by 
men, for example; and investigations seem to show that even 
55% of all the haberdashery is bought by women. In Wis- 
consin the State Census Department figures out that the 
women of that State spend $900,000,000 a year. 

Statistics also show where the best markets are when 
judged from the standpoint of business conditions. You 
would not advertise in the wheat belt, for instance, if the wheat 
crop were a failure; nor would you advertise in Aroostook 
County, Maine, if potato crops were unprofitable. You must 
make analyses of this kind to avoid advertising waste. 

Automobile statistics are a much-used fund of information. 
Suppose you are selling an automobile accessory: If you know 
that in one State, a fairly authoritative investigation shows 
that 24% of the farmers own motors, and that in another 
State about 29% of them possess motors, and that in a third 
nearly 50% of them drive cars, then you can well see that the 
farmer population ought to be reached by your advertising. 

Suppose you are advertising one of the many preparations 
which are designed to straighten out the kinks in the hair 
of colored people. You may think that there is a very small 
market for this article, but the fact is that there are nine 
million colored people in the United States, and if your ad- 
vertising covers the South a large percentage of the public 
may be persuaded to buy your product. 

Some advertisers use as subjects for illustrating advertise- 
ments the familiar figures of the railroad world, the fireman 
and the engineer. These characters are surrounded with an 
atmosphere of romance and have an indirect appeal on that 
ground, but, that aside, such characters, when used in an 
advertisement, have an extra appeal to all who are interested 
in the railroad industry, and when you consider that there 
are two million railroad workers in the United States, you 
can see what a great audience you are talking to in terms of 
their daily work. 

If the iron and steel industry is badly depressed by indus- 



WHO AND WHERE ARE THE BEST PROSPECTS? 131 

trial conditions, and production is reduced to a minimum, 
many who live by their earnings are temporarily unable to 
buy what you have to sell. This means a large portion of 
your market is affected, for there are five million who make 
their living in the iron and steel industry of the United States. 

There are probably more farm statistics than any other 
kind of official statistics, and they frequently help to solve an 
advertising problem. For example, if you are advertising a 
stump-puller, where will your best market be ? In the North 
Atlantic States, the farm lands comprise nearly twice as many 
improved acres as woodland. In the South Atlantic States, 
the proportion is half and half. Obviously, there is far more 
stump-pulling to be done in the North than in the South. 
The knowledge derived from this comparison tells you which 
is the better market to work. 

When the thermos bottle was first put on the market the 
promoter's idea was that this novelty would be a great acces- 
sory to the picnics of the wealthy. As it developed, a tre- 
mendous market existed among the factory workers who 
wanted to take a warm drink to work with them for use at 
the noon-hour. This discovery gave a wholly different aspect 
to the marketing problem. Instead of the prospects being a 
comparative handful of wealthy people, the circle of possible 
buyers included millions of w T age-earners. As a result the 
entire advertising method underwent a transformation. In- 
creased demand brought increased production, which made it 
possible to lower the price so as to bring it within reach of 
the greatest possible number of buyers. 

Such has been the history of many a marketing problem. 
Experience has brought out new facts which have changed 
the entire plan, and have often resulted in an expansion of 
the market and a decrease in the price. A knowledge of 
statistics and an analysis of conditions will often go a great 
way to save part of the expense which a change of plan al- 
ways involves. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Analysis of the Consumer's Attitude 

Analyses of prospects to determine how and where to ad- 
vertise go farther than an inquiry into the ability to buy. 
They must take in more than the prospects themselves, they 
must search the conditions which surround those prospects. 

These analyses must also cover the conditions of the mar- 
ket. They involve a scrutiny of temporary conditions such 
as war, permanent conditions such as habits of the trade 
and, above all, conditions of competition. These factors 
largely determine what advertising tack to take. Formerly, 
in advertising a food product the manufacturers never would 
say that it contained "no alum," but now, when all the pure- 
food experts are decrying the use of alum in foods, the manu- 
facturers find it advantageous to make their product appear 
particularly pure by this assertion. These advertisers know 
that the prospect has formed a prejudice, and talk to the 
housewife on that basis. 

Analyses of conditions also have to do with competition. 
For instance, a cream-separator concern found that they 
could not sell at all in Wisconsin and Michigan though they 
sold very successfully in New England. They analyzed and 
discovered the conditions which explained this fact. By 
talking to their possible prospects they found that many 
Northwesterners had been badly deceived by another cream 
separator. That was why, when they ^advertised in the local 
farm journals, the farmers would not accept their claims. 
The manufacturers, located in the East, would never have 
guessed that they faced a different kind of a problem in Wis- 
consin and Michigan unless they had analyzed their prospects. 
After analysis they changed their tactics entirely; instead of 
advertising that their separator was cheaper than any other, 
they turned about and made the key-note of all their copy 
the fact that they would refund to the purchaser his money 

132 



ANALYSIS OF THE CONSUMER'S ATTITUDE 133 

if the separator were not satisfactory. In that way they talked 
to the farmer in terms that conformed to his peculiar state of 
mind. They met his objection before he thought of it. His 
fear was eliminated by the money-back guarantee. 

Analysis of consumer attitude is more important than anal- 
ysis of conditions. A manufacturer of metal office furniture 
thought that people bought their steel office furniture through 
fear of fire. They made a research. Over 500 firms were 
written to, and 348 answered, giving their reasons for pur- 
chasing as follows: 

Durability 25% 

Fire protection 16% 

Appearance 14% 

Convenience 9% 

Saving of space 8% 

Impervious to climate 7% 

Sanitary qualities 4% 

A manufacturer of a cereal was not sure whether flavor, 
nourishment, convenience, or digestibility was his chief point 
of appeal, so he wrote to 500 users and personally put these 
questions to them. 

1. What brand of cereal do you usually use? 

2. If your answer is our brand, please tell us: Why do 

you prefer our brand ? 

3. Have you ever used any other brand of cereal ? 

4. How was our brand first brought to your attention ? 

5. How often do you serve it in your home ? 

6. Do you serve it in any other way except as porridge ? 

7. If you gave up using our brand, why did you discontinue 

its use ? 

8. Why do you prefer the brand you are now using? 

In almost everything there is a certain formula for success 
— a certain line of appeal which will win. Only analysis or 
experience can tell you what that secret is; and analysis is 
often cheaper than experience. 

One man, as a result of intelligent analysis, was able to 
secure his inquiries on a certain article at a cost of 30 cents 



134 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

apiece; whereas another, with the same product, who failed 
to analyze his problem, had to pay over 60 cents apiece for 
his inquiry. The man who analyzed was able to make sales 
which amounted to about $30 each, at a cost of about $3 per 
sale; out of ten inquiries received at a cost of 30 cents each, 
he was able to sell one article. 

The other man paid much more to effect a sale. When he 
spent $30 for a 6-inch "ad" in a certain publication, instead 
of getting 100 inquiries, as did the successful competitor, he 
got only 50 inquiries. This meant that he had paid about 
60 cents for his inquiry. His selling expense was something 
like $12 on $30, instead of $6 on $30. He failed. 

The secret which the successful man had discovered through 
analysis was that the article could not be sold entirely through 
advertising. He had found that a personal demonstration 
was necessary to make the prospect buy. He used his ad- 
vertising simply to "sell" his descriptive "literature." The 
other man tried to sell the article in his advertisement in- 
stead of simply seeking to get an inquiry, which he could 
follow up with persuasive literature. 

Analysis should also cover the matter of timeliness. In 
publication advertising, along in July and August, the space 
used is far less than that used at other times of the year, 
because at that time most people are away on vacations 
and, as a rule, do not buy as much as at other times of the 
year; so the average advertiser saves up his appropriation 
until people are more likely to be in the market for what he 
has to offer. But certain things can be advertised with more 
timeliness in summer than in other seasons. Obviously, a 
beverage ought to be advertised most heavily during July, 
August, and September. Rings and other jewelry may be 
most advantageously advertised in the Christmas season. 

The manufacturer must ask: "Is this something I had 
better advertise twelve months of the year, or is it better to 
advertise it at intervals?" All such questions should be de- 
cided by an analysis of the element of timeliness. For in- 
stance, the manufacturer of a tasteless Castor-Oil thought 
that the summer-time was a good time for his product, be- 



ANALYSIS OF THE CONSUMER'S ATTITUDE 135 

cause the doctors said so. He planned to concentrate his 
advertising campaign in July or August. But he investi- 
gated the comparative demand in the drug-stores during those 
months and found that his advertising would pay better in 
the fall and winter. 

In the automobile field this question of timeliness is souk- 
what baffling. Many say that the best time to advertise 
automobiles is in the summer, because then the desire for a 
car is keenest. Others say that those who are able to buy 
automobiles are away at that time, and that people do not 
read as much during the warm months as they do in the fall 
and winter. Several automobile manufacturers have sent 
out to all the owners of their products a long list of ques- 
tions, in an effort to get the owners to say at what time of 
the year they are most likely to be interested in the question 
of a new car. Such analysis is expensive, but usually pays in 
the long run. 

Advertising agencies have developed the science of analysis 
to a very high degree. Here, for instance, is the list of ques- 
tions which one agency asks of each new advertiser prior to 
a thorough investigation of trade conditions, consumer atti- 
tude, and pertinent statistics. 

A. The Product — 

1. What are the trade-names and trade-marks? 

2. What are the main divisions of products ? 

3. What are their relative volumes of sales? 

4. Are products patented, and how do they com- 

pare in value with other brands ? 

5. What technical or other advantages have, they? 

6. From a manufacturing standpoint, which would 

be the most profitable product to concen- 
trate upon ? 

B. Consumption — 

1. What is the total consumption of each division 
of product: 

(a) In the United States? 

(b) In each State? 



I36 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

(c) In cities and towns of 10,000 or over? 

(d) In towns of 10,000 and under? 

2. What is the consumption per capita? 

3. What is the total possible consumption? 

4. What is the average purchase by an individual 

consumer ? 

5. How many consumer purchases in a year? 

C. Competition — 

1. How many competitors are there, and what per- 

centage of the total business has each com- 
petitor ? 

2. How many advertised brands are there? (a) 

What are their comparative prices ? (b) The 
extent and type of their advertising? (c) 
Have they tried localized advertising plans ? 

3. What percentage of gross sales are competitors 

spending for their advertising? 

4. What do their sales organizations consist of ? 

5. How many competitors have national and how 

many have restricted distribution? 

D. Distribution — 

1. What is your distribution? 

(a) How many branches — where? 

(b) What does sales organization consist of — 

salaried men — commission men ? 

2. How many possible dealer-customers have you 

(classified) ? 

3. To what extent do dealers influence consumer 

purchases ? 

4. How many different brands do dealers carry ? 

5. Do any jobbers handle the goods? 

6. Are wholesale and retail prices fluctuating or 

fixed ? 

7. Are there any peaks and low spots in selling sea- 

sons ? When ? 



ANALYSIS OF THE CONSUMER'S ATTITUDE I37 

E. Consumer — 

1. Which division of product would be easiest to 

sell to consumer? 

2. Which division is purchased most by brand ? 

3. What is consumer's present attitude toward 

product ? 

4. Is it a necessity or luxury, and how long will it 

last ? 

5. Does its purchase involve a change in buying 

habit on the part of the consumer or the ex- 
penditure of money which would not other- 
wise be spent? 

6. Which is main appeal: 

(a) Value. 

(b) Utility. 

(c) Pride. 

(d) Appearance. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Methods of Distribution 

The producer or wholesaler who seeks to sell more than 
locally must first decide how he is to distribute his goods. 
How to advertise them will depend entirely on which sales 
system he chooses. Sales systems are called method of dis- 
tribution. Of these there are four main methods: 

1. Through the mail direct to consumer. 

2. Through retail branches direct to consumer. 

3. Through jobbers through dealers to consumer. 

4. Through wholesale branches through dealers to con- 

sumer. 

For instance, suppose you make wire fence. You will have 
competitors in the national field who do not manufacture 
their own wire fence. They buy it from another factory. 
Your own and another concern may each do a business of 
$3,000,000 a year. Yet you may use an entirely different 
system of distribution. 

You may dispose of your wire through a sales force. Per- 
haps you will have about fifty men — one man to a State. 
These men go through the country and call on the dealers. 
John Jones who runs the feed mill at Angola, for instance, 
will be called on by your representative, who will try to get 
Mr. Jones to buy your wire fence and pay for it on delivery. 
Eventually, John Jones, in turn, will sell your wire fence to 
the farmers in his surrounding territory and pocket a profit 
on each sale that he makes. 

Your competitor may not nave a single salesman. Per- 
haps his only employees are his office force. He may use 
thousands of dollars' worth of advertising each year instead 
of a sales organization. He announces his wares in about 
one hundred and fifty different farm journals or agricultural 

138 






METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION 139 

publications. These "ads" are simply designed to bring in 
inquiries. They say that "this is good fence, and it is only 
23 cents a rod." The farmer is supposed to write in and 
say: "I would like more information. Send me your cata- 
logue." Thus, without salesmen, this other man relies on the 
mail to dispose of as many dollars' worth of wire fence each 
year as you do. 

There are many such cases in which two concerns in the 
same business operate under entirely different sales methods. 
And before you can think of advertising, you must solve the 
big problem, "What method of distribution shall I adopt?" 

In the case cited above, you and your competitor have the 
same product and the same market. You each have wire 
fence to sell — and you each have the farmers to whom to 
sell your fence. The question is: How can you make the 
greatest profit — by selling through salesmen, through dealers, 
or by selling in the direct way, by means of the mail ? 

Many economists favor the direct method of distribution 
from the wholesaler (whether he be the manufacturer or the 
jobber) right straight to the consumer — the person that will 
ultimately use the goods. This method has gained much 
favor. Its advocates hold that it eliminates the middlemen, 
and results in economy of distribution. But in actual figures 
it involves a fairly high cost per sale, for it entails expensive 
and extensive correspondence. The usual cost of getting a 
single inquiry as a result of an advertisement is about $1. 
The actual cost of getting a single new customer averages 
about $10, as only about one out of ten inquirers ultimately 
buys. The manufacturer, therefore, who sells through the 
local dealer with the help of local advertising may actually 
undersell his direct-dealing competitor when all is said and 
done. 

Certain goods can be sold successfully by mail, and certain 
goods cannot. For instance, it would be impossible for the 
Cudahy Packing Company to sell Dutch Cleanser by mail 
direct to the consumer. Although the housewife might buy 
a package to-day and another package next month, each pack- 
age would mean only a 10-cent sale. The cost of selling — 



I40 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

the cost of all the necessary correspondence and other items — 
would more than wipe out all possible profit. 

A io-cent article of that kind would be impossible of sale 
by the direct-by-mail method. Even a 50-cent article would 
seldom permit the use of such a method. And yet, there are 
exceptions; some novelties, such as watch-fobs, may be sold 
by this method with fair success. If the fob brings 50 cents 
and costs, say 4 cents, the seller would have 46 cents gross 
profit, which might take care of the cost of getting the in- 
quiry and might also cover the other expenses of letters and 
the follow-up literature necessary to complete the sale. But 
if that 50-cent article should cost the advertiser 30 cents, it 
would be impossible for him to market it successfully by the 
direct-by-mail method. On the other hand, if your product 
averages from $25 to $50 for each order, then even if each 
inquiry costs a dollar, and each sale costs $10, provided the 
margin of profit is large enough, the direct-by-mail method 
may be profitable and mail-order advertising may prove a 
gold-mine. 

To sell successfully by mail another element is essential — 
to get repeat business. In other words, you must be fairly 
sure that your this-year customer, when he decides to use 
some more goods in your line two years from now, will buy 
from you, because, as a rule, a mail-order business cannot 
make profits unless the first selling expense of securing a cus- 
tomer is divided over many subsequent orders, which ulti- 
mately must come in from the person whom you win as a 
new patron; otherwise, the cost of the first sale is usually 
so high that you will lose money. 

If you are selling a staple article, an article which most 
people want and use, you have got to sell on the basis of price 
if you use the mail-order method. Other things being equal, 
it is easier for the average person to call up the local store 
and say: "Send me so-and-so" than to go to the trouble of 
ordering goods by mail. People will not send to a distant 
city for their goods, rather than buy at home, unless they 
believe they can get those goods for less money — or unless 
they can get goods not locally available. 



New Fall Suits 
and Jackets. 




New Cloth Gowns. 



Raiiiv 



Use Outer Jackel 
Jaunty Short Jack 



THE NATIONA 



At left, a mail-order advertisement of 
twenty years ago. Below, at right, a reeent 
advertisement of the same house. 



THE "NATIONAL" 

Money-Saving Style 'Boo/^ 




j 



■■ ;\; ; ■. c 



NATIONAL CL(V, 



NATIONAI CLOAK COMPANY, 



Cloak & Suit Co., 205 West 24th St., N< 




National Cloak & Suit Co., 5403 Independence Ave., Kansas City, Mis$oi 



Mail-order advertising has progressed from an effort to use the space 
itself as a catalogue to one toward getting the reader to send for a cata- 
logue. 

I 4 l 



I42 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

The fact is, many, many millions have been lost in the chase 
for mail-order fortunes. Unless you have the resources to 
wait and wait you had better use the usual methods; and if 
your product and merchandise do not happen to suit 
the mail-order method, you cannot possibly succeed with that 
plan of distribution although you may win out handsomely 
in selling through dealers. 

Let us suppose that you manufacture shoes and you select 
the mail-order plan of distribution. In advertising you ask 
people to order by mail. Can you market your shoes success- 
fully in this way? If the public knows that your shoes are 
about the same as those they have bought at their depart- 
ment store at $7.50, and if you offer those shoes for $5.50 — 
then, providing you prove you are reliable, people may send 
for your shoes because they know shoe values and can com- 
pare. But with goods, the value of which is not so obvious 
as in the case of shoes, you will find it more difficult to sell. 

When it comes to intangible things like investment bonds, 
you cannot sell to the general public unless you explain the 
bonds to the prospects personally. Very few people outside 
of professional investors know just how much any certain 
kind of bond is worth. When you say in your " ad " that your 
bond offers a fine opportunity to make money, average people 
are not impressed. They are not able to say to themselves, 
as they might in the case of shoes or something else of known 
value: "This is worth so-and-so. At the price offered I 
can buy this to my profit." 

Take an example: A factory which was doing a $300,000 
business annually had been selling through the dealer at a 
minimum manufacturing profit. The dealer made a gross 
profit of $5 or more on each of their products. The manu- 
facturer decided there was no reason why he could not pocket 
that $5 profit himself. And so, without further considera- 
tion, he embarked on a mail-order campaign. Of course, the 
first thing that happened was that his customers — the dealers — 
ceased buying from him. They were angry. They did not 
like to have the factory say to the people: "Don't buy from 
your local dealer — buy direct from the factory and save 



METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION I43 

money." The manufacturer gave up all chance of regaining 
these retail dealers on whom he had spent so much time and 
money. He found that he could get some orders by mail — 
but not enough to pay for the cost of getting that business 
direct from the consumers. His success was further pre- 
cluded by the fact that his product possessed no "repeat" 
quality. During a lifetime a person might buy two of his 
articles — at an interval of perhaps twenty years. Even when 
the manufacturer gained a customer at an expense of $5 or 
$6 worth of advertising and sales cost, he could not expect a 
second purchase for many years. The cost of securing a 
purchaser had to be absorbed in that first sale. Each sale 
amounted to less than $10. The gross profit was less than 
$5. The cost of getting the mail-order was over $5. The 
concern failed. 

And yet, the Sears, Roebuck Company sells over $300,- 
000,000 worth of goods every year. They sell 100,000 differ- 
ent articles to 6,000,000 customers. Ten years ago they 
were only a moderate success. Simply through cumulative 
ability to keep old customers and to get new ones, they have 
become the largest mercantile business in the world. But 
the keystone of their success has been their ability to offer 
low prices. They are able to buy in such quantity that they 
get their goods at rock-bottom cost. They sell on bargain 
appeals. 

Successful mail-order houses answer requests with extraor- 
dinary rapidity: a catalogue is mailed the day the inquiry is 
received. Personality cannot enter into this kind of selling. 
The sales must be made simply on price and on service. 
Some mail-order men try to sell on personality. All their 
"ads" bustle with big "I's." With photographs of them- 
selves they seek to instil personality into their advertising 
and hope that it will charm people into buying. But per- 
sonality does not seem to act as well in mail-order distribu- 
tion as do the elements of price and service. 

Usually the big mail-order house has a diversity of mer- 
chandise. Sometimes, however, the business is concentrated 
along a single line, such as wearing apparel — especially suits, 



144 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

cloaks, coats, and goods of that kind. There is one company 
using the mail-order method which sells $50,000,000 worth 
of clothes every year. Many others in the same general line 
sell over a million dollars' worth a year in the same way. 

These concerns sell simply by presenting a picture and a 
price. They make it easy for the prospect to sit down by 
the evening lamp and see what pretty clothes she can get for 
what seems to be so little money. Women think they know 
about this kind of merchandise. They think they under- 
stand clothing values. Therefore, they believe they can 
readily measure how much they will save. Consequently, 
they do not hesitate to buy by mail. 

There are other kinds of mail-order successes. Instead of 
the appealing-by-price argument, some mail-order institu- 
tions, known as premium houses, offer savings in round-about 
ways. For instance, they say: "You would have to pay 5 
cents for a cake of soap if you bought it at the corner grocery 
store. Buy it from us and we will give you 5 cents' worth 
of hairpins in addition." That is the principle of the premium 
system upon which this kind of mail-order house operates. 



CHAPTER XIX 

Retail Branches and Exclusive Agencies 

Can the manufacturer or wholesaler straddle the distribu- 
tion problem ? Can he enjoy the long profit of the mail- 
order system and at the same time utilize dealer distribu- 
tion ? This dual method is seldom attempted — although 
there are examples of its successful application — for if a pro- 
ducer tries to go to the public through mail and thus cut out 
the dealer, the dealer is usually so antagonized that he re- 
fuses to buy from the producer. 

A certain mattress manufacturer tried to make a success 
of dual distribution in this way: He sold his mattress by mail 
to the consumer for $20. He sold the same mattress to the 
dealer for $10. And the dealer was able to sell a great many 
mattresses as long as he could afford to sell them for $15, 
whereas the regular price advertised in the magazines was 
$20. But even at that the dealer did not like to sell this 
mattress. In many furniture stores throughout the 'country 
samples of it were kept in the back part of the shop. Deal- 
ers would open these up and show them to a customer to con- 
vince her that she should not buy this advertised mattress. 
They tried to prove that another mattress — which the cus- 
tomer could buy for $14 — was just as good as the one which 
she had come in to buy at the price of $15. 

The dual method is usually a dangerous system of dis- 
tribution, as you can readily see. For instance, suppose you 
make furniture. There are 5,000 possible good dealers. Sup- 
pose each of them sells $1,000 worth of your goods each year. 
That means an annual volume of $5,000,000, and at the 
barest manufacturing profit this would be a highly lucrative 
business. 

Now suppose you decide to sell some of your furniture by 
mail. An advertising appropriation of $50,000 may bring 

145 



I46 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

you 50,000 inquiries, if you are lucky; and if your luck con- 
tinues you may sell to 10% of these inquirers. Suppose you 
sell to 5,000 customers. Their orders would not average 
$1,000, like those of the dealers. If they averaged $25, that 
would mean a total business of $125,000, and even if your 
profit were many times as large, you would not receive as 
much net income as from through-the-dealer distribution. 

Some experts recommend the direct method at the start of 
a business. They argue that this quickens the distribution, 
so that later it is easy to enlist the dealers and adopt the 
ordinary system of dealer distribution; but if a manufacturer 
is advertising nationally while following this policy, each dollar 
so spent by him cannot be as effective as if his goods were on 
hand in the better stores throughout the nation, 

The virtue of a direct-to-consumer system of distribution 
is that it makes possible a relationship with the ultimate 
users. When you sell through the local dealer he exercises 
control and the manufacturers are more or less at his mercy; 
but there is a way to deal with the consumer and yet get the 
extensive volume that comes from having your goods con- 
veniently at hand so that the consumer does not have to 
buy by mail. This method is the direct-through-agents 
system. For instance, typewriters, as a rule, are sold direct 
to users through the manufacturers' own salesmen. If you 
are in the market for a certain brand, you can buy it in your 
town only at the company's local branch office. You must 
deal with the manufacturer's own salesman. This is natural, 
because in order to sell specialties of this kind a man must 
know a great deal about such machines — much more than he 
could possibly know if he were also selling bicycles and desks 
and other things. He has to be a specialty salesman. It is 
necessary for such manufacturers to have more than their 
advertising, more than the most powerful follow-up literature 
that man can create. They have to rely on the personality 
of especially trained salesmen, who are experts at selling 
their particular make of machine. 

One large typewriter manufacturer who sought to change 
this method by adopting a mail-order plan found that a 




<•- 



01 



MM 





Without looking, she finds 
\er favorites hi the. Sampler 



nm m 




Above, a recent magazine page. At left, 
an "ad " of twenty years ago. Here the im- 
provement is in taste — in making the trade- 
name more delicate and tempting, in fill- 
ing the advertisement with human interest 
which, in turn, suggests pleasure, purity, and 
festivity. The Sampler, itself, gives an added attraction. Its success has 
been notable as a successful little device for strategic merchandising. 



147 



148 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

great cut in the price of the typewriter was necessary to make 
up for the lack of personal salesmanship. 

Most automobile factories employ a similar system. Their 
advertising may establish a prejudice in favor of their car. 
They may also follow up with letter after letter. But in order 
to sell cars and get people to spend money which they other- 
wise would not spend, they must utilize specialized salesmen 
to complete the solicitation. These automobile salesmen 
must know automobiles and know them well. 

Many shoes are sold by this same method. The very 
largest factories distribute their output through their own 
stores. They cannot sell by mail with much success. But 
in the direct-through-branch system, they do not have to 
rely on advertising alone. Their publicity need only estab- 
lish that atmosphere which will make people want their goods ; 
then the prospect will go to the store and the salesman com- 
pletes the sale. 

Sometimes producers have their own agents and their own 
retail stores, and also sell in practically every hamlet in the 
country wherever they can get a grocer or druggist or con- 
fectionery store to put their goods on the counter. This is 
the system of many of the big candy companies. They have 
their own stores in some places. In others they sell through 
the stores of the independent dealer. 

If you, as a manufacturer, have your own retail branch in 
a certain town, the other dealers in that community will 
prefer not to compete at retail with you, the manufacturer. 
They are, therefore, unlikely to buy any goods from your 
factory. 

Another question to be faced is whether you should appoint 
dealers as exclusive agents. Suppose that in a given locality, 
where you have no retail store of your own, there are two good 
stores. One is run by Frank Smith and the other by John 
Jones. Suppose your product is a certain kind of laundry 
soap. Your salesman goes to Smith and says: "We want 
you to be our exclusive agent in this town. We won't sell 
to Jones at all. If you teach your customers that our soap 
is best, they can't go to Jones for it, because Jones won't 



RETAIL BRANCHES AND EXCLUSIVE AGENCIES 149 

have it. So, you see, it will be worth your while to recom- 
mend and push my goods." That is the idea of the system 
of exclusive agencies by which you sell your goods to only 
one dealer in each locality. The objection to it is that when 
you go to Smith and sell him your soap and say that Jones 
can't have your soap, you decrease the amount that you can 
sell. Let us say that each dealer has 500 customers. You 
get only 500 possible prospects at Smith's store. The 500 
customers who deal at Jones' are excluded as prospects; and 
yet, those 500 customers of your exclusive dealer may buy 
more soap than if both dealers handled it, for if Smith really 
pushes it, more people will buy it than if Jones sold your 
soap too. 

Certain products have to be sold through exclusive agencies. 
Fine furniture — notably sectional bookcases — seem to be in 
this class. Each one of these lines has broad competition. 
Each of these manufacturers must fight competitors who 
seek to sell at lower prices. The personality of an intelli- 
gent salesman on the floor is needed to persuade people to 
pay the extra money that these goods cost. 

As a rule the manufacturer who sells his goods through 
exclusive agencies does not try to use the exclusive system in 
a big city. Here the dealers are not in such personal com- 
petition with each other. In the small town, the dealers are 
likely to be fighting each other tooth and nail, so that if 
Smith handles your goods, Jones, for that reason, will not 
want to. A large city may be divided into distinctive sec- 
tions, and it is often possible to have one "exclusive" dealer 
in each section; but, in general, the exclusive-agent plan 
works best in the smaller places. 



CHAPTER XX 

Producer— Jobber — Dealer Distribution 

In the majority of cases the producer sells his goods to the 
jobber, who sells them to the retailer. Practically all gro- 
ceries are sold by this method; practically all drugs. Hard- 
ware — particularly the smaller articles — is sold by this system. 
On all such items the dealer can save store space and other 
expenses by letting the jobber buy and carry his goods, which 
the dealer can order out as he needs them. 

Suppose that you have a retail hardware business in a 
down-town location. If you were to carry in your store all 
the stock that you would have to buy in order to get quan- 
tity prices, you would probably need three times as much 
floor space. This would cost a tremendous amount of money. 
A wholesale store in a less expensive section can carry its 
stock so cheaply that the cost of goods, plus storage space, 
plus jobber's profit, usually totals less than the factory cost 
plus the cost of the retailer's more expensive floor space and 
other fixed charges. 

In a through- the- jobber system it is more necessary than 
ever to create a consumer demand in order to make the goods 
flow from jobber, to retailer, to consumer. Take breakfast 
foods, for instance. Some cereal manufacturers seldom go 
near the retail dealer. They may advertise to him so that he 
will favor their product. But they do not call on the retail 
dealers. They feel that he will sell just as much as the public 
asks for — no more and no less. Nor do these manufacturers 
much concern themselves with the jobber. 

By using jobbers, a manufacturer can do away with 
warehouses. He may also reduce the number of his cus- 
tomers; he may have one big account instead of hundreds of 
retail dealers. In return for this warehousing and bookkeep- 

150 



PRODUCER— JOBBER— DEALER DISTRIBUTION 151 

ing function, the jobber usually gets about 15% discount. 
But the manufacturer must depend on publicity to create the 
flow of his goods, for the usual jobber's salesman takes orders 
for thousands of different items and cannot be expected to 
push any particular brand of goods unless it be the jobber's 
own brand. 

Most producers depend on the jobber and the dealer merely 
for the performance of the mechanical function of stocking 
the goods. The selling of goods in the active sense is de- 
pendent on the advertising. In extreme instances this adver- 
tising must even make the consumers want the goods so 
keenly that they will force the dealers to carry them. The 
dealer then will force the jobber to keep them in stock for his 
convenience. In that way the jobber will be compelled to buy. 

In this connection advertising performs its strongest func- 
tion. It is the life-blood of this method of distribution. 
But even in this case it is wisest to cultivate the jobber and 
dealer. For in many instances it is possible for the dealer to 
shift the consumer's desire from your product, which the con- 
sumer asks for, to some other, on which the dealer may make 
a few cents more. If your article is liable to substitution 
you must pay a great deal of attention to the dealer. 

Even in the exclusive-agency plan of distribution it is 
necessary to get the dealer to back up your goods enthusi- 
astically. If he does not, you lose. It would be better, then, 
to have two different dealers in the town rather than only 
one. To make your exclusive-agency plan win out you must 
continually stimulate the dealer. This is usually accomplished 
through house organs and circular letters, and other direct- 
mail work in addition to the visits by personal salesmen. 

Some manufacturers virtually finance the dealer. Partic- 
ularly in exclusive-agency distribution, the manufacturer will 
say: "Here, you put my goods in your store. You won't run 
any risk. If you don't sell them, I will take them back. If 
you do sell them, you pay me such-and-such a price for such 
as you sell." That is what is known as "putting goods in 
on consignment." But where the manufacturer sells to all 
good dealers, the dealer takes all the risk. He is in business 



152 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

absolutely for himself. When he gets his goods /rom the 
manufacturer, the manufacturer ends his part of the trans- 
action. The dealer then takes over the task of selling those 
goods. He sells them for whatever price he pleases and on 
whatever terms. The merchandise is the dealer's property, 
without a string of any kind. But from a manufacturer's 
standpoint, this kind of distribution must concern itself with 
the consumer, for few dealers will push your product. In 
order to create a demand that will make the consumer ask 
for your product you must advertise to the general public. 

By selling your goods to every possible dealer you can get 
your product into the greatest possible number of stores, if 
your price is fair. If your possible territory is limited, this 
plan is still more desirable. Suppose, for instance, you put 
out a line of dining-room chairs. Freight rates are so fixed 
that if you are an Eastern manufacturer you cannot pos- 
sibly sell any dining-room chairs in Nebraska, because you 
will have to charge the Nebraska dealer so much more for 
your chairs than does the Chicago manufacturer. You would 
have to add to your prices a considerable freight cost. 

The manufacturer who sells through this every-dealer 
method, and does not advertise, must take the least possible 
profit. A dealer will not push your goods if all the other 
dealers handle them unless he can make more money on 
your goods, or unless there is a decided demand for them. 
Your soap, let us say, sells at 5 cents and costs the dealer 
4 cents. Another soap costs the dealer 3 cents, and that, 
too, sells for 5 cents. The usual dealer will sell the 3-cent 
soap whenever he can, because then instead of making 1 
cent he would make 2 cents on each bar. 
• Low price is almost the only factor that will tempt a dealer 
to sell a lot of your goods if you do not enlist him in active 
support by granting him an exclusive agency — or if you do 
not force him through advertising. If you sell the dealer on 
a price-basis that will give him an extra large margin — even 
if you cut your profit to the very bone — it is likely that a 
competitor may cut under you. Then your business will 
slide away unless you, in turn, go under him. That will 



The display in the old "ad" 
seems to suggest a funeral. 
The new "ad" suggests health, 
happiness, beauty, and purity. 




01i\ ilO will not "dry" your skin 

I » 

Wrisl-v's f ■ .- 



ill 



• "a- perfect • 
toifetf soup 




OLIVE EYE LO 



At left, an advertisement of 1900. Below, a recent magazine page. Note 
that for twenty years, the name has carried an explanation of its pronun- 
ciation. 

153 



154 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

either force you to inferior quality of product, or heavy losses 
and possibly ultimate failure. 

On the other hand, if you give the dealer a fair margin, 
and cause him to sell your goods by making the public buy 
them from him, then you are constantly building up an inde- 
structible asset of good-will and certain business progress. 
To create such a demand, advertising is needed. This ad- 
vertising will insure you a fair manufacturing profit — will 
quicken the dealer's turnover — and will also protect the con- 
suming public against any letting down of quality. 

This quickening of turnover is a vital point. Many, many 
dealers are looking less for long margins of profit and more 
for fast-moving advertised products. This is because live mer- 
chants are seeing the truth of the principle that net profit 
comes from volume of business. That is why the usual 
salesman selling advertised goods puts his emphasis upon the 
advertising behind them even more than upon the intrinsic 
merit of his goods. For instance, the successful salesman of 
to-day is likely to persuade his dealer prospect with the fol- 
lowing line of salesmanship: 

"Now and then you have stocked goods, and they stayed 
on your shelves and you had to take a loss on them. Do 
you know why they did not move ? Wasn't it because they 
were not advertised heavily enough? Or, if they were ad- 
vertised heavily enough, wasn't it because they didn't have 
the quality — the quality that insures repeat-sales? 

"If you were told that a certain brand of preserves was to 
be advertised heavily week in and week out, in all the local 
newspapers in big space — and in full showing on the biggest 
twenty-four sheet poster boards and in any other ways — 
wouldn't you stock up on that preserve? Probably you 
would even though it required an investment on your part 
of many dollars. 

"And, if the advertising were strong enough, and if the 
preserves were good enough, they would move out of your 
store quickly and you would make money on them. 

"You have more advertising behind my goods than on any 
other similar article in your store. Think that over — it is 



PRODUCER— JOBBER— DEALER DISTRIBUTION 1 55 

the great big point that has much to do with the profit of 
your business. What this means to your turnover is startling, 
if you will but figure it out. Suppose you carry a stock of 
$10,000 worth of goods altogether. Suppose you do a business 
of $50,000 per year. 

"That will mean that you will turn over your entire stock 
on an average of five times per year. Your fixed costs of 
doing business are probably around 25%. In other words, 
on $50,000 worth of business, your rent, light, heat, and 
pay-roll, and other items of overhead, ought to equal about 
$12,500. If you turned over your stock ten times per year 
instead of five times per year, it would mean that you would 
be doing $100,000 worth of business instead of $50,000 worth 
of business annually. 

"And your light, heat, rent, etc., would probably not in- 
crease very much. The result would be a profit of about 
5 r 7 on your first $50,000 worth of business and a possible 
profit of 20% on the additional $50,000 worth of business — 
if you could only turn over your stock ten times instead of 
five times. You can double your turnover if you carry our 
advertised goods. It is the great advertising behind them 
that will enable you to do this. The fact that you ought to 
have enough stock on hand to more than meet that demand 
is an axiom. It is as obvious and certain as the fact that 
one and one make two. And remember this about our ad- 
vertising. It doesn't go up like a sky-rocket and then fall 
like a stick. In fact, it never stops. It never stops — that 
is the nub of our policy both as to advertising and quality." 



CHAPTER XXI 

Consumer Advertising which Enlists the 

Dealer 

Although more and more dealers are seeing the advantage 
of handling advertised brands, it is still necessary to plan 
most consumer-advertising campaigns with one eye on the 
dealer. Of course, the purpose of most advertising is to 
make consumers want the advertised product. But in some 
cases the consumers do not buy what is advertised even 
though they have decided that they want it. 

The dealer is often the making, or breaking, of an adver- 
tising-selling campaign. The word "advertising-selling" is 
used purposely, because an advertising campaign must sell 
goods, and no advertising campaign succeeds unless the deal- 
ers have been "sold" — which means more than the mere 
securing of distribution. "Selling the dealer" must go be- 
yond putting the goods on his shelf. Most of us who have 
actually sold goods on the road know that the dealer makes 
the majority of decisions as to what brand of the desired kind 
of goods his customers will buy. And yet the dealer wants 
goods that will sell. He knows that the main power that will 
make the goods sell is advertising. "Are these goods going 
to move?" That is as big a question in the live dealer's 
mind as: "Are they of good quality?" 

The dealer must therefore know that you are advertising, 
and how you are advertising. To illustrate this point, take 
some of the methods which have been found successful in 
putting across consumer advertising that enlists the dealer. 
The obvious and simplest means of causing consumer adver- 
tising to influence the dealer is to advise the dealer of the 
advertising by means of a mailing campaign. 

In marketing a new cracker, the way was paved for the 
salesmen, and the dealer was enlisted, by taking the first five 

156 



ADVERTISING WHICH ENLISTS THE DEALER 157 

"ads" of the campaign and printing them on five different 
government post-cards, with the name of the product omit- 
ted. These were mailed to each dealer in the territory where 
the advertising was to be done. 

Every other day the dealer received one of these "teaser" 
post-cards. They suggested that this was just what father, 
mother, sister, brother wanted, and would buy from him. 
Of course, a little curiosity was excited. Then, ten days later, 
the solution to the puzzle arrived in the form of a proof of 
the big newspaper "ad," containing all the previous pieces of 
copy together with the name of the new product. By this 
time the dealer was pretty well acquainted with the cracker, 
and realized that it was going to be advertised. The sales- 
man, who came along a few days later, found that the dealer 
was already sold, and it was almost a matter of simply taking 
his order. 

For three years a company manufacturing a patented 
specialty had been spending thousands of dollars to get a 
foothold. The commodity was so intricate that it could not 
be described in type and illustration. Its desirability had to 
be demonstrated. After six months' work a moving sign 
was designed and placed in a 5-and-io-cent store during the 
summer months. It worked ! Many of these signs were put 
into the windows of the most desirable dealers — dealers who 
had seen the virtue of the commodity and had stocked up 
well, but had found that the goods would not move. Take 
this as an illustration of the value of this kind of hooking-up 
of the dealer: A salesman went to New York. In the Hudson 
Terminal Building there was a big store. The salesman of- 
fered this dealer a sign if he would buy a gross of the specialty. 

"Why," replied the dealer, laughing in the salesman's face 
p — "I wouldn't buy those things unless I knew they were 
going to sell — and as to your putting that moving sign in 
my window, you'll have to pay rental for the space it takes." 

But finally that dealer was persuaded to try it out. A 
year later the manufacturer tried to get that dealer to re- 
lease the sign so that they could put it in another dealer's 
window. He refused ! Good orders from that store are now 



158 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

coming in every month. And this manufacturer, in general, 
as a result of hooking-up the dealer with the consumer-adver- 
tising, is to-day doing in one month the amount of business 
that he was able to do during the entire third year of his 
existence. 

The angle of the "copy" itself may often mean the enlist- 
ment of the dealer. In starting the advertising of a new 
food product a large "ad" showed a fine-looking grocer hold- 
ing out a package. The dealers were so pleased with this 
idealized presentation of their side of the merchandising that 
many were willing to paste clippings of these "ads" on their 
windows. And the "ads" that followed for the next two 
months kept featuring the dealer. One of them showed a 
sign containing the name of the product, with the dealer 
pointing to it. The caption was: "By this sign ye shall 
know good grocers." As a result of this kind of advertising 
this brand was quickly placed in thousands of stores. 

The same method has helped a grocery specialty. This 
was well established, was enjoying a fair increase, but in a 
certain territory for many reasons it had slumped. Investi- 
gators went through this field, spending three days in a big 
city and two days in the neighboring villages. They found 
that the dealers were simply apathetic. The specialty had 
become an old story with them. There was a fair demand 
for it, but their love had gone elsewhere. 

As a result of this investigation the campaign was pushed 
on a new line. Newspapers were necessarily the medium, as 
the distribution was limited to five states. The manufac- 
turer wrote to every dealer that had ever bought this product 
and enclosed a list of the newspapers in which the big "ads" 
were to be run. A government post-card was enclosed, on 
which the dealer was asked to state in which of those papers 
he wished his name to appear. At the bottom of this post- 
card there were three blank lines where the dealer could write 
an order if he wished. The week following the sending out 
of these letters brought in thousands of these post-cards. 
Many of these carried orders aggregating thousands of 
dollars. 




The "ad "on top was published in 1900. The large "ad" is of recent 
date. The point of progress is the latter's reason-why appeal— " 50% cheaper 
than paint." 

159 



160 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

But of course the main function that this mailing per- 
formed was to make the dealer realize that the product was 
to be advertised, and make him realize that fact in a clearer 
and more personal way than could be accomplished by any 
other method. 

When the dealer is an exclusive dealer, handling a product 
which involves a large amount per sale, it is possible to use 
an almost perfect form of the kind of " consumer-ad vertising- 
that-enlists-the-dealer." By this plan the manufacturer goes 
50-50 on advertising done in the dealer's locality, over the 
dealer's name. This idea works out well. Usually the dealer 
is enthused, as well as aided, by this sharing of local adver- 
tising expense. 

Some manufacturers have gone farther in an effort to in- 
spire dealers by practically taking them into partnership in 
the advertising problem. Before making a definite appro- 
priation they have corresponded with each dealer — talking 
over the situation in his city — getting him to recommend his 
choice of paper — discussing with him the amount of money 
it would take, and agreeing that (if he would share the ex- 
pense 50-50) they would put that item for his city into the 
factory advertising appropriation. And the copy was built 
in a way that made it seem like the dealer's own advertising. 
The "ads" lacked all "factory" flavor, and instead were the 
straight, plain merchandising "ads" which the dealer wanted 
for the quick turn-over of his goods. 

A good time to enlist the dealer is before a new article is 
started. In introducing a new toilet preparation the makers 
were not sure which of two main virtues would prove to be 
the greatest talking point in the advertising and selling of the 
product. Briefly, they put the question up to the dealers by 
mail. They got 68% replies. Practically all of them agreed. 
In this way they found out what was the cardinal selling- 
point, and also they got the dealer's keen preliminary interest 
in the article prior to the time it was offered to him. 

Consumer-advertising-that-enlists-the-dealer can be ac- 
complished through more ways than dealer-signs and news- 
papers and direct by mail. Successful plans for using the 



ADVERTISING WHICH ENLISTS THE DEALER l6l 

same system have been worked out through the medium of 
the painted bulletin. And through the magazines this prin- 
ciple of advertising is sometimes magically successful. For 
instance, in advertising an expensive machine an advertiser 
took a page in a leading magazine, left about one-third of the 
page blank at the bottom, and sent proofs to certain dealers 
whom he especially wanted in certain cities. He advised 
them that the names of all dealers would be listed in this 
space, and asked them to authorize him to list their name, 
so that the inquiries which emanated from that community 
could be referred to them. 

In order to secure a dealership in this way it was neces- 
sary for the dealer to order a sample totalling over $1,000 net 
cost. Six such applications and orders came in by telegram. 
The business done by that advertisement paid for itself 
many, many times over. The actual space used by the list 
of dealers' names did not hurt the persuasive power of the 
appeal in general. Instead, in the main, it helped it to win 
out. 

The most usual method is to ignore the dealer and to force 
dealer distribution through advertising to the consumer. By 
this method you seek to advertise your soap, for instance, so 
heavily as to create a demand which would make the dealer 
sell your product whether he makes I cent per cake, or whether 
he makes i}4 cents per cake. Such a campaign requires 
tremendous resources. During the first two or three years, 
you will probably not net enough profit to pay for that ad- 
vertising. Your profit will come from the cumulative de- 
mand — the snow-ball-like building up of your business which 
will result from the fact that a first trial will so satisfy each 
new user that she will buy more, and will tell her friends. 



CHAPTER XXII 

Advertising— Plus Sales Work 

The aim of an advertising campaign is to sell the greatest 
possible amount of goods. To do that it is necessary to cre- 
ate the greatest possible demand on the part of the consum- 
ers. But your campaign will fall flat if you do not take care 
of the other factors which facilitate the fulfilment of the 
demand thus created. No matter how heavily you adver- 
tise, little will come of your work if, in the meantime, you do 
not build up your machinery of distribution. The jobber 
should have your goods in his warehouse ready to let the dealer 
have a stock before the consumer goes to the dealer and asks 
for your brand. 

Suppose you adopt a campaign which calls for full pages in 
national weeklies, or large space in general magazines, or 
extensive use of street-car cards. Then you may gather 
your sales organization and say: "We shall start to manufac- 
ture 'such-and-such' soap next month. We shall advertise 
it heavily. Most people will want so good a soap at so low 
a price. We shall tell the public about it in this strong way. 
So you go out and stock the dealers." 

Your salesman goes out. He has copies of the proposed 
"ads." He approaches the dealer in some such way as this: 
"Here's our new soap. You get it for 3^ cents a cake and 
sell it for 5 cents. That means a good profit for you. More- 
over, you are going to sell a great deal of it as a result of all 
this advertising we are going to do. Many people will come 
in and ask for the soap. Better take a couple of gross." 

The dealer gives him an order. Then the salesman sees 
the other dealers. At the end of a week he may have about 
fifty gross on his order-book. Then he goes to the jobber in 

162 



ADVERTISING— PLUS SALES WORK 163 

that particular section and tells him what he has done. The 
jobber offers to take over the orders for these local dealers. 
He also orders an additional number of gross, in the expec- 
tation that the dealers will want more as soon as the adver- 
tising begins to pull the soap off their shelves. 

This system of distribution in advance of demand is the 
most logical. But unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, a 
good many of those promised avalanches of demand never 
come. Many a dealer who puts a gross in his store finds 
that the advertising causes hardly a dozen or so to move. 
He takes his medicine. But when another salesman comes 
around with a similar proposition he is likely to say: "Well, 
I will take a dozen, and if it goes the first day or so I can get 
another dozen from my jobber." This method by which the 
dealer puts in a minimum stock is probably best for him, and, 
in the long run, is probably best for the advertiser. 

The dealer of to-day can pretty well estimate how much 
demand there will be on the basis of a certain advertising 
proposition. Anyway, he knows that most of the goods 
which are advertised can easily be secured from his jobber. 
In an effort to overcome this tendency, by which the dealer 
buys sparingly, some manufacturers have abused advertising 
by tempting the dealer to overstock. The salesman is likely 
to say: "If you buy a gross from me now, I will put in an 
extra dozen free." That is called a "free deal." The pur- 
pose is to make the dealer fill his shelves so that he will put 
all his effort into getting rid of the goods, and in that way 
positively co-operate. But as a rule, this turns out otherwise. 
The dealer soon forgets that he got an extra dozen by buying 
a large quantity. He remembers that he has all those goods 
on his shelves and that they decrease in value every minute 
they grow dirtier and staler. Therefore, he forms a preju- 
dice. He is likely to get angry at this merchandise and close 
it out at a cut price. Then, in the future, he will try to sell 
a competitor's brand instead. 

But it is highly dangerous to run your advertising without 
first making sure that the consumers can get your goods 
from the dealer when they ask for them. If the dealer has 



1 64 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

to say that he does not have your advertised soap, the con- 
sumer will seldom take the trouble to try elsewhere. Even 
if the dealer has twenty calls, he may then ask his jobber for 
only half a dozen, or as few as he can get along with. 

The method of letting distribution follow the creation of 
demand is often of tremendous wastefulness. Suppose, for 
instance, that you are spending $5,000 for a page in a na- 
tional periodical. Suppose in a town of ten thousand there 
are five hundred people who read that publication. Suppose 
fifty of these who see your advertisement are persuaded to 
go to John Smith, grocer, for your product. If they decide 
to do that, they will probably go there the day after they see 
your "ad." If Smith does not have your soap the consumer 
is likely to say: "All right, give me the usual kind." And 
next week, when the dealer has your soap, Mrs. Consumer 
will have forgotten your " ad." Therefore most of the money 
you spend in that magazine, in order to get those fifty peo- 
ple to go to that store, will be wasted unless the local dealer 
is stocked. 

One of the safest and surest ways to secure distribution is 
to get your goods into a dealer's store on the promise that 
you will use newspaper space in his town, in addition to your 
national advertising. If you use this system — town by town 
and state by state — you can eventually cover the country. 
This method is thorough but slow and expensive. It works 
because the dealer becomes personally bound up to your 
goods. He will be committed to your brand as a result of 
your advertising in his own local newspaper over his name. 
These factors will tend to make him co-operate for the sale 
of your goods. Then your appropriation in the broad gen- 
eral mediums will be more likely to have the maximum effect. 

There are three principal methods of using local advertising 
to enlist the dealer and to insure distribution: 

1. Without listing any dealers' names. 

2. Listing names of all dealers in each piece of copy. 

3. Using smaller "ads" over the name of one dealer at a 

time. 






At left, a Libby "ad" of twenty 
years ago. Below, a recent page. 




Enjoy again the old-time apple butter! 



m 



The old "ad" advertises a generality — a line of foods. The modern 
"ad" advertises a concrete thing and one thing only — apple butter. Which 
whets the appetite the more ? 

165 



1 66 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Another method, and possibly the best of all, is to include 
in the local newspaper schedule one full-page advertisement 
in which dealers' names are to be listed. These full pages 
are merchandised in advance of their publication. The sales- 
men are furnished with copies which they show to the deal- 
ers, promising to feature all co-operating dealers by printing 
their names and addresses in the full pages. Then other 
"ads" follow, without any dealers' names. This plan is us- 
ually called the " page-merchandising plan." It has seldom 
been known to fail. It has been used on almost every 
variety of merchandise. It almost invariably gets maximum 
results with smallest expenditure of time, energy, and money. 

Here is an outline of a typical plan of this kind: 

May 3. Address to salesmen — outlining purpose of cam- 
paign, giving details. Presentation of port- 
folio containing proofs of advertising, photo- 
graphs of window- trim material, etc., to be 
used by salesmen in calling on trade. 

May 10. Letter from newspaper to entire trade in lo- 
cal territory — announcing campaign — advising 
dealers to co-operate — mentioning that deal- 
er's name and address will appear in full-page 
advertisement without charge to dealer — en- 
closing government post-card on which dealer 
may designate how he wishes name and ad- 
dress to appear. 

May II. Salesmen start active sales endeavor — also can- 
vass trade for name and address for ad — em- 
phasizing big thing that the house is doing in 
this campaign to help the dealer. 

May 17. Letter from newspaper to entire trade announcing 
Window-Display Contest during weeks of 
June 7 to June 26. Prizes to be awarded 
by advertiser. Securing of entrants — details 
of contest, etc., to be handled by Board of 
Judges. Photographs to be taken of window 
displays at expense of advertiser. 



ADVERTISING— PLUS SALES WORK 



I6 7 



May 31 



June 4 
June 7 
June 8 
June 9 
June 13 
June 15 
June 16 
June 20 
June 22 
June 23 
June 30 



July 6. 



Newspaper communicates with dealers who have 
not signified their intention to co-operate either 
by letter or telephone. Notifying laggard deal- 
ers that noon, June 3, is the dead-line for ac- 
cepting the offer to list name. Final appeal. 

Final approval of dealers' name list. 

Monday full page appears with dealers' names. 

Tuesday, one-half page. 

Wednesday, one-third page. 

Sunday, one-half page. 

Tuesday, one-fifth page. 

Wednesday, one-fifth page. 

Sunday, one-third page. 

Tuesday, one-sixth page. 

Wednesday, full page. 

Announcement by newspapers of winners in 
Window-Display Contest, by letter to entire 
trade. 

Letter to co-operating dealers by the advertiser, 
thanking them for their co-operation — suggest- 
ing that dealer will find it profitable to con- 
tinue efforts on this line — calling attention to 
national advertising, etc. 



This plan resulted in securing the co-operation of 323 deal- 
ers out of 400, in a community of less than a million — includ- 
ing a radius of 50 miles around the city itself. Over 250 win- 
dow displays resulted. 

Many advertisers have relied solely on local advertising to 
get their distribution built up, step by step. They are con- 
tent to develop their market gradually, with local advertis- 
ing. Then, as fast as they make one territory profitable, they 
use that sales income to start a harvest in another field. 
Meanwhile they keep their first soil well fertilized with con- 
tinued publicity. They feel that this method is far better 
than the old system of persuading dealers to stock up through 
the promise of general national advertising. But the latter 
method of forcing distribution by blanketing the nation with 



1 68 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

periodical advertising is still the favorite. In the long run 
such a method usually wins out handsomely, although the 
first few years may require an advertising expenditure far 
greater than the sales income. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

The Salesman and the Advertising 

In a general, through-the-dealer plan of national distribu- 
tion, the question of sales organization is of prime importance. 
You must find out how to distribute your goods so as to have 
them on hand for the consumers when your advertising cre- 
ates a demand. You must decide on your sales plan before 
you decide your questions of medium, or copy, or any of the 
other advertising details. 

Some of the biggest successes in advertising have been 
largely due to the efficiency of sales organization. Salesmen 
find it even more and more important to know advertising. 
Many men in advertising positions to-day are former sales- 
men. One function of the man in the field selling goods is 
to make the dealer understand advertising, so that he will 
know why the advertised article will be better for him to sell 
than one which is not advertised. The salesman, in such cases, 
lifts his argument above mere quality and price, and makes 
the profit- to-the-dealer paramount. This, in turn, involves 
the question of the advertising's effectiveness as applied to 
the dealer's interest. 

In advertising campaigns where it is hard to get the co- 
operation of the dealers, the manufacturer must train his 
salesmen in the principles of advertising. The salesman 
should help, personally, to make the advertising effective. 
Conversely, advertising is the salesman's best friend. As a 
stimulus to salesmen there is no greater force than the power 
of advertising, for with advertising the salesman has some- 
thing more to offer than simply the goods and the price. He 
can also offer some real help by way of advertising aid; and 
the broad-minded dealer is more interested in the possibili- 
ties of his advertising than any other phase of his business 
program. 

Without advertising, the salesman can discuss only those 

169 



170 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

things which have to do with his (the seller's) side of the 
fence. These considerations are all in terms of "me" and 
"us," so they do not appeal to the ego of the dealer. But the 
salesman who sells on the basis of the advertisedness of his 
goods talks in terms of the dealer's profit. As a result, his 
persuasion is on the dealer's side of the fence. He talks to 
the dealer in terms of "you" and "your" rather than of "me" 
and "our." 

So the salesman who sells on the basis of advertising, helps 
himself most and also helps the dealer most. If the sales- 
man knows the rudiments of advertising in a way that en- 
ables him to advise the dealer, he is exceptional. He is the 
man that the dealer is glad to see. The dealer cannot help 
but feel that such a salesman is thinking of his (the dealer's) 
profit. Therefore this type of traveller is more likely to sell 
to a dealer than if the atmosphere were pervaded with the 
"me" and "our" of the manufacturer. 

Advertising needs this co-operation on the part of the sales 
organization. Many failures can be traced to the lack of 
it. If a sales organization does not hitch up to a publicity 
campaign, the advertising may not pay. But there is also 
a danger that the sales organization may overestimate the 
ability of the advertising to sell goods. In the old days when 
national advertising first began to hold sway, salesmen would 
exhibit great portfolios showing the front pages of a number 
of magazines to prove the immensity of combined circulation, 
and showing pictures of the "ads" which were to run. The 
salesman would display this in front of the dealer with the 
assertion that this meant a landslide of demand. The dealer 
would not know. He might be overcome by the mystery of 
this thing called advertising, a new element to both the sales- 
man and dealer. But advertising is better understood by 
the salesman of to-day. He knows that it is more likely to 
create "acceptability" than "demand," in the literal sense. 
He knows that if the dealer gives an advertised brand a fair 
chance it will sell, whereas it will not sell if the dealer tries 
not to sell it. 

The alert manufacturers are spending much time and ef- 




Avoid Exposure 
Frost king 

FROST QUEEN } 



II VI 1 11 4 111 \< K. 



On left, a Bauer & Black "ad" of twenty 
years ago. Below, a recent B. & B. an- 
nouncement. 




Never 


_ , : : : 

a corn 


on millions of feet nowadays 




It 'is made by a world- 
famed laboratory. which 




every physician respects. 


if a rorn ap>pcars it is end- 
ed bv a touch.' A Blue-jay 


It is now applied to some 
20 million corns a year. You 


plaster or a drop of liquid 


can see that corn troubles 


Blue-jay is applied. 


arc rast disappearing. 


The corn pain stops. Soon 
the whole corn loosens and 
comes out. 


Then why pare corns and 
keep them? Why use methods 
which are out of date? 


The method is scientific. 
It is gentle, easy. sure.-. Old- 
time harsh treatments are 
supplanted by it with every- 


Try this new-day method. 
See what it does to one corn. 
You will never forget its 
quick and gentle action. 


one who knows it. 


^ our druggist sells Blue-iay. 


fyfiX Blue-jay. 


/C7//C/ Plaster or Liquid 


The Scientifi 


c Corn Ender 


BAUER & BLACK Chi 


cago ' New York Toronto 
i Allied Product* 



This illustrates the value of simplicity — of advertising just one product 
at a time. 

171 



172 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

fort in impressing their salesmen with the power of adver- 
tising and in teaching them how to express the advertisa- 
bility as well as the other qualities of the goods. This, for 
instance, is the way Mr. H. W. Alexander presented the case 
of advertising to his salesmen: 

"There are ten reasons why you will gain by using adver- 
tising in your work. Here they are: 

1. Because you are selling the house, and when you sell 

the house, you naturally sell all that it stands for — 
sound financial strength, supreme quality of mer- 
chandise, and the heaviest advertising of any concern 
in the field. All of this makes it easier for you to sell 
the line as a whole, where simply merchandise talk 
tends to sell individual items only. 

2. Because the salesman to-day who talks advertising 

stamps himself as a man of modern ideas and a 
live wire. Since 22,000,000 people bought Liberty 
Bonds, since the Red Cross collected over $100,- 
000,000 with the aid of advertising, people every- 
where have a new conception of this great force and 
w T hat it will accomplish. To none is this fact more 
illuminating than the retail merchant. 

3. Because the advertising is working for you while you are 

calling on other dealers. That is why it will pay 
you to see that window cut-outs are being used; to 
keep the art-glass signs on the counters and on the 
shelves; to aid and urge dealers to use the cuts we 
supply for their local-newspaper advertising. 

4. Because advertising is a market-maker. If the dealer 

has a market and a profit he can have no quarrel 
with the cost of the goods. The advertising makes 
the merchandise sell — the dealer makes money — you 
sell with less argument and discussion as to price. 

5. Because both retailers and clerks are more interested in 

advertised than non-advertised lines. They will 
talk them stronger, push them harder. Never neg- 
lect an opportunity to tell both the advertising and 
merchandise features to clerks wherever possible. 



THE SALESMAN AND THE ADVERTISING 1 73 

6. Because you can show a dealer that a stock of adver- 

tised goods is always worth par. If he ever wants 
to sell out, which can he sell easier and get most for 
— a stock of standardized, nationally-advertised 
goods, or a collection of unknown, unbranded mer- 
chandise? By carrying nationally-advertised goods 
it is always possible to fill in a complete stock. Odd 
lines, miscellaneous brands, are like a four-flush — 
you can't fill to 'em. 

7. Because, when you put your line of advertised goods into 

a merchant's store, you are building on something 
bigger than the dealer's own personality. Should 
the dealer die, resign, or sell out you are not so sub- 
ject to the whims of the new buyer. 

8. Because, likewise, you do not have to depend entirely 

upon your own personality. No salesman can be 
a hero to every dealer. With our advertising story 
to tell, every salesman has a far better chance of 
getting the line in. 

9. Because, after you have sold a merchant, you can visit 

the local newspaper and get the publisher or adver- 
tising manager to follow up the merchant. Explain 
to the newspaper that the merchant should be run- 
ning advertisements featuring our line at the same 
time our national advertising is appearing. You 
will usually get good co-operation there, and thus 
you leave this strong local force working for you 
after you are gone. 

10. Because, when you have a dealer sold on advertising, 

you couple up with the efforts of a powerful Adver- 
tising Department at home that will be working 
with you and for you 365 days in the year. While 
you are travelling in other territory this department 
will be keeping up your fences, backing up your work, 
helping the dealer move his goods — holding his in- 
terest until you call the next time. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Planning a General Campaign 

You have perfected your product. You have settled your 
manufacturing problems. You have decided on your method 
of distribution. You have trained your sales organization. 
After all those big details are settled you are at last ready to 
start on the advertising details. If yours is a large organiza- 
tion you have an advertising manager. He has studied your 
distribution. He has worked with your sales manager to 
find out from the salesmen what sort of competition you are 
up against, what the market is, and what are the possibilities 
of repeat sales on your goods. After you have digested these 
different details of your market you can decide what kind of 
campaign will best fit the conditions which surround your 
particular problem. 

At this point you will probably call in an advertising agency. 
You will tell these advertising agents that you have decided 
to spend, say $100,000 the first year in an advertising cam- 
paign to create a demand for your product. Meanwhile, your 
advertising manager has probably conceived a certain plan. 
The agents look over this plan. Undoubtedly they suggest 
changes. They offer amendments based on their experience 
with other articles, whether similar or otherwise. And then, 
after all the details of analysis have been settled, you author- 
ize your agency to begin to place your contracts. 

For instance, suppose you have decided to spend $50,- 
000 in street-car cards, and $50,000 in newspapers, to com- 
prise 100 different newspapers — an average of $500 each. 
The agency will make contracts with those newspapers in 
your behalf. They agree to use in your behalf so many 
inches of space in each town. They also make contracts with 
the street-railway advertising companies for a certain number 
of cards in these certain towns. 

174 



PLANNING A GENERAL CAMPAIGN 1 75 

If you were to go to these newspapers direct and buy 
$50,000 worth of space it would cost you $50,000 anyway, 
and to make these contracts would take a lot of your time. 
A recognized agency, however, is allowed from 10% to 15% 
commission by the newspapers on all out-of-town business 
secured by the agency. That is where the agency gets its 
pay. Therefore, as a rule you can get, without extra expense, 
the service of an agency which would give you their counsel 
in building your plan and their aid in preparing your copy 
and art work, as well as all the clerical labor involved. All 
this would not cost you a cent more than if you were to try 
to place your advertising direct. 

So your advertising manager decides, in conference with 
your agency, on the best course of action. Together they 
arrange the dates for insertion of the advertisements. If your 
advertising manager simply had to take care of the creation 
of these few advertisements in connection with this single 
campaign there would not be much need of an advertising 
department. But he has to do much more than that. He has 
to get out booklets and other follow-up literature — because 
these advertisements that are to run in the newspapers may 
carry coupons — so that the readers who are interested in your 
announcement may write to you and ask for more informa- 
tion. You may have to send them a little sample and a book- 
let which will tell why they should buy your product. And 
so, in this creation of booklets and in the execution of this 
system of taking care of inquiries and sending out that litera- 
ture and those samples, your advertising department will 
have a tremendous amount of detail to attend to. In these 
matters you cannot expect the agency to help much, except 
by way of advice and counsel. 

Then, too, the advertising department usually takes care 
of all the details of the direct advertising to the trade. This 
work with the dealer must be done. You must realize from 
the first that you are not the only manufacturer in your line. 
You have competition not only for the favor of the public, 
but also for fair treatment by the dealer. You have to cater 
to him. You have to prove to him that your goods are worth 



I76 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

his support. Here enters a vast field of advertising mediums 
known as the trade publications. There are more than 1,000 
important periodicals in trade journalism. Almost every 
single trade in the country, from tobacco through to lumber, 
has one or many such organs. These deal directly with the 
problems of the trade that they serve, and are usually read 
rather religiously by the dealer, although often there are 
so many such publications that the dealer does not read 
them as thoroughly as he would like to. Still, these trade 
journals are purely business propositions with the dealer. He 
feels justified in taking the time to go through them. To get 
the dealer's interest, therefore, and co-operation in support 
of your advertising efforts, these trade journals offer you a 
good opportunity for reaching your dealer-customers. 

The trade journal, as a rule, is confidential to its own trade. 
The public knows nothing of it and is supposed not to see its 
contents. You can therefore tell the dealer in the trade 
journal how much he can make on every bar of your soap he 
sells. That, of course, is a mighty good argument why the 
dealer should sell it, but is a poor argument why the public 
should buy it. But above all, these trade journals are valu- 
able in building up that spirit of co-operation which you need 
to help back up your other advertising. 

Of course there are objections to trade publications. For 
one thing their cost is high compared to their circulations. 
Then, too, they are likely to be so crowded with advertising 
that even though you have a full page your "ad" may be lost. 
Possibly your advertising department may decide that the 
trade journals are not, of themselves, sufficiently strong in 
their ability to carry your message to the dealer, for the jour- 
nals in some trades are stronger than in others. Then you 
would have to go to the dealer through an entirely different 
system. You may decide to send out a letter every week. 
You may decide to send a telegram now and then. Or, per- 
haps once a month you will publish a house organ and send 
it to the dealers. 

One big national advertiser has a house organ which is 
almost a magazine. This goes to thousands of automobile 



"He Deposits $500 a Month! 




At lower left, an "ad" of 1900. 
Above, a modern page concerning 
which Paul V. Barrett, assistant 
advertising manager, says: "This 
is one of the most successful pieces 
of copy ever used by the Schools." 



177 



178 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

owners, but is mainly meant for a selected list of twenty thou- 
sand automobile dealers. This publication costs $50,000 a 
year; but it hammers home this manufacturer's argument to 
those twenty thousand dealers, month in and month out. 

This magazine talks in the terms of the layman — the man 
on the other side of the fence. It explains the most technical 
engineering points in the simplest words. Any one can under- 
stand. Their message is untechnical, and yet the magazine 
is talking to men who are supposed to know automotive en- 
gineering. The advertising department of this factory pays 
more attention to that house organ than to their expenditure 
of three times as much money in the magazines and other 
mediums. They feel that the education of the dealer in their 
favor is the crucial point of their campaign. 

And that is only one of many instances where the manu- 
facturer finds it worth while to carry on two interrelated ad- 
vertising campaigns — one to win the consumer, and the other 
to enlist the trade. In general, comprehensiveness is one of 
the great virtues of an advertising plan. The following exam- 
ple shows the general form of the usual national advertising 
plan. (To this, of course, there would be appended an item- 
ized schedule and estimate of cost, plus a plan for inspiring 
the salesmen) : 

Plan of Campaign Summer and Fall 

Because your product is used exclusively in the home the 
influence of women for or against its purchase is increasingly 
great. 

That is why we recommend a campaign in the Ladies 1 Home 
Journal. 

The Ladies' Home Journal campaign should include: 

1. Three full pages in Ladies' Home Journal in July, Sep- 

tember, and November. 

2. A consumer folder on each "ad," appealing specially to 

women. 

3. Three broadsides to dealers. 

4. Three broadsides to dressmakers. 



PLANNING A GENERAL CAMPAIGN 1 79 

The farm field will undoubtedly be the next big market for 
you, and once the farmer's wife starts to use your product, 
the business will come with increasing rapidity. 

There is enough potential business among farmers' wives 
to keep every manufacturer in your line busy for the next 
five years. 

A special farm campaign in the Farm Journal is, therefore, 
recommended. 

The farm campaign should include: 

1. Four pages in the Farm Journal in June, August, October, 

and December. Special farm copy should be used. 

2. A consumer folder on each "ad" — each folder showing 

the many uses of your product on the part of the 
farmer's wife. 

3. Three broadsides for dealers showing them how to go 

after farm business and cash in on the campaigns. 

4. A series of special rural "ads" for dealers' use in local 

papers. 

The Literary Digest and American Magazine pretty nearly 
blanket the best homes of the country. 

We suggest adding four pages in the Digest and in the Ameri- 
can Magazine in July, September, October, and November. 

The Digest-American Magazine campaign would include: 

1. Five pages in Literary Digest (May to October inclusive). 

2. Four pages in American Magazine. 

3. Four broadsides to dealers. 

4. Five consumer folders, based on the five " ads." 

5. Five pieces of newspaper copy for dealers' use. 

THE CAMPAIGN IN TRADE PAPERS 

During the campaign the copy in dry-goods papers should 
have a distinct tie-up with the magazine copy. You must 
drive home this desirability of your goods in terms of profit 
for the dealer. 

In dressmaking papers we should use one or two double 
spreads to put over the idea of the greatest campaign in your 
entire history. 



l8o A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

KEEPING IN READINESS FOR NEWSPAPER DRIVE 

Just the moment that production will permit it, a series of 
local drives in newspapers should be launched. 

This campaign should be prepared almost immediately, 
perfected, and held in readiness so that on ten days' notice a 
drive can be launched. 

THE BIG PORTFOLIO 

This is the one big " smash" which will wake up your en- 
tire organization of jobbers, dealers, and salesmen. This 
book should show actual reproductions of all the publication 
advertisements, plus inspirational "trade" copy, plus figures 
showing in graphic form the width and depth of the circula- 
tion of each medium to be used. 

On account of the expense we do not recommend that this 
be mailed to a big general list, although the result would 
probably justify even that. 

The portfolio can be supplemented with broadsides which 
will cover the same ground in a less expensive way. 



CHAPTER XXV 

Continuity Through a Central Thought 

There is a decided tendency in national advertising toward 
planning advertising in units of campaigns, rather than in 
units of individual advertisements, and of running a single idea 
as a definite thread throughout a whole series of advertise- 
ments which may comprise one or several campaigns. This 
method is based on what is variously called a " dominating 
idea," "scheme," "central thought," "running theme," and 
by other similar terms. The words "central thought" seem 
best to express the gist of the plan. The principle is that 
when a series of advertisements is based on a central thought, 
that one thought will be much more likely to impress the 
public mind than if the same series is based upon several 
different thoughts. 

In a way, the whole system of trade-marks is built on this 
same basis. A trade-mark is desirable and necessary in order 
to give to the public mind a handle by which to grasp the 
name of a product. At the same time, this trade-mark be- 
comes a mental receptacle in which the public mind can 
retain many of the good things which the different adver- 
tisements say about the product. In advertising a trade- 
mark, the aim is to impress it upon the average mind firmly, 
as if you stamped upon a compartment of the brain the 
name of that particular product. Thus the trade name be- 
comes known, and, therefore, the product is more apt to be 
acceptable to the public. Then, to make that product more 
than acceptable, to make it wanted — to turn acceptability into 
demand — it is necessary to create a certain liking toward 
and favor for that name and the product for which it stands. 
In other words, it is necessary to build desire on top of 
familiarity with the name. 

181 



182 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Just as it is necessary to concentrate on one audience with 
adequate space for a sufficient length of time in order to 
establish the trade-name with that audience, so it is even 
more necessary to pursue the same method when persuading 
the audience — when creating desire for the product. 

We can fix a trade-name in the public mind more easily 
than some idea or ideas which will surround that trade-name 
with desire. If we wabble in our appeal, if this minute we 
talk to our audience in terms of the utility of the product, if 
the next we talk in terms of beauty, if the next minute we 
talk of economy, we are likely to miss our mark and fail to 
fix any one of these impressions. That is why it seems more 
effective to stick to one appeal, to pursue one angle of per- 
suasion with sufficient continuity and repetition so that that 
angle may be finally forced into the mind and linked up as 
an element of desire in conjunction with the trade-name itself. 
On such continuity, on the repetition of a certain definite 
appeal or central idea, a campaign can well be bound to- 
gether. 

A central thought can be effective or ineffective, according 
to its piercing power: A generalized thought glances off the 
public mind ; a concrete central thought pierces — providing it 
has the proper qualities to carry through. What are these 
qualities? They are those that almost any good sales mes- 
sage possesses, intensified in recognition of the fact that 
printed salesmanship lacks the personal force of a flesh-and- 
blood salesman and therefore must have an intrinsically 
greater strength. Some of these necessary qualities are: 

1. Interest: The central thought must in itself have a 

definite concrete appeal which will attract; for in- 
stance, "A Skin You Love to Touch." 

2. Sincerity : The central thought must be based on truth 

— truth which is sufficiently evident that it need 
not be proved by far-fetched tests. For instance. 
"Built Like a Sky-Scraper" is simple and sincere. 

3. Salesmanship: It must be based on an appeal which is 

based on the public's interest rather than the self- 



A contrast in looks. The 
twenty-year-ago page at 
upper right suggests cheap- 
ness. The modern "ad" be- 
low suggests taste. 




Even though no candy is shown, there is something about this that makes 
one's mouth almost water. Henry C. Pragoff of the Lowney Advertising 
Department, calls this "one of the best of our advertisements. It proved 
mighty successful." 

183 



184 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

interest of the manufacturer. For instance, "You 
may dent the wood, but the varnish won't crack," in- 
stead of "The largest varnish makers in the world." 

To get this element of salesmanship into your central 
thought, it is usually best to find out from the consumers 
themselves just what point has the strongest appeal to them. 
This investigation should be made either by interviewing the 
ultimate purchasers with a set of questions, or by watching 
how goods of the same kind are actually bought over the 
counter. 

Sometimes the central thought may become a fundamental 
of the advertising appeal — a fundamental so solid that it 
may be retained forever as the basis of the advertising appeal. 
In that event, it is best to interpret the fundamental central 
thought from different angles. For instance, the funda- 
mental appeal may be some concrete idea in connection with 
"forging ahead in business." This fundamental appeal may 
be continuous, with its advertising angle varied by some- 
times aiming it at the susceptibility of fear, sometimes pride, 
sometimes luxury, sometimes love-of -power. 

The central thought should be utilized in the most com- 
plete possible way, not merely in the publication adver- 
tisements. It should also run through the booklets, or cir- 
culars, and even the packages, and it should permeate the 
personal salesmanship of the men on the road. 

•Of course, the central thought should not be tricky. It 
should not be obtrusive; it should be sufficiently indirect so 
that its "works" should not show on the surface. As to how 
long it should be continued, depends upon many considera- 
tions, but in general it is well to check up at the end of each 
six months and find out whether its repetition has approached 
tiresome monotony. In checking up, however, it is vital 
that the judgment be based upon the effect of the central 
thought upon the public mind, and not upon the advertiser's 
mind. The advertiser sees one advertisement one hundred 
times. He looks at it studiously and thoroughly; but the 
public gives an advertisement merely a glance. Therefore, 



CONTINUITY THROUGH A CENTRAL THOUGHT 1 85 

the advertiser is likely to tire of the central thought long 
before it becomes monotonous to the average prospect. 

A slogan is not necessarily a central thought, although a 
central thought may become a slogan. A slogan may be a 
wonderful asset, or it may be no asset at all. The advertiser 
is likely to tire of the slogan prematurely, just as he is likely 
to tire of a central thought, forgetting that the public may 
have just come to the point of receiving the effect of that 
slogan. Like the central thought, which it helps to express, 
the slogan should be distinctive — it should be concrete, it 
should possess "you," it should be natural; it should not be 
tricky, or clever to the point of calling attention to itself. 
Like the central thought, the best slogans are chosen after 
long and thorough investigation of the consumer's point of 
view. 

A new advertiser may find it best at first not to adopt a 
central thought, for the reason that an introduction and a 
favorable attention are quite as necessary in printed sales- 
manship as in personal salesmanship. It may therefore be 
best at first to meet the task of establishing prestige for the 
name of the advertiser and a general acceptance of his insti- 
tution. The next step should probably be toward a plan 
of campaign which would tend to sell the advertiser's line on 
a merchandising basis. Then the plan may so evolve as to 
concentrate on a certain specialty, or specialties, with the 
appeal based upon a central thought. This central thought 
will probably build itself out of the results which the pre- 
liminary-prestige advertising establishes. Such a central 
thought can then fall on the fertile field of general good-will 
which the preparatory campaigns will have tilled. 

Continuity, whether it be with or without a central thought, 
can be achieved through one or more of the following mechan- 
ical methods which are based on "eye-display," as described 
in Chapter VII: 

I. Trade-mark. An example of this is the Victor Dog, in 
advertising Victrolas. It is interesting to note that 
an animal of this kind has an especial strength in 



1 86 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

foreign countries. In fact, the Victrola, in foreign 
sales work, is called "His Master's Voice Gramo- 
phone." 

2. Trade characters. Examples of this method of con- 
tinuity are the Eskimo in Cliquot Club Ginger Ale, 
the cook in Cream of Wheat, and Aunt Jemima 
herself. 

J. Style of illustration. For instance, the use of silhou- 
ettes in the Ricoro cigar campaign, the use of smart 
cartoons in Kelly-Springfield tire advertising, the 
use of dainty pastel tints in color, or the similar 
dainty voguish treatment, even in the black-and- 
white of Lux illustrations. 

These mechanical methods of continuity are not in them- 
selves central thoughts, although they may be accessory to 
the kind of continuity that is built around a real central 
thought. There are, at least, two other ways of achieving 
continuity by " mind-display" rather than " eye-display." 
Two of these methods are: 

1. Copy style. One example is the style of copy which 

Irving Fletcher has written for Tecla Pearls. An- 
other example is the phraseology of the Prince 
Albert tobacco advertisements. 

2. Slogans, such as " Eventually, Why Not Now?" "It 

Beats as It Sweeps as It Cleans," "Ask the Man 
Who Owns One." 

The best kind of continuity to strive for is the kind which 
possesses some or all of these mechanical "eye-display" 
methods, and either one of the two "mind-display" meth- 
ods, plus a sensible, natural, interesting, persuasive sales- 
point, which is a real central thought, worthy of the ham- 
mer, hammer, hammer of repeated emphasis, on a funda- 
mental, with such refreshing variations as time may require. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

Factors in the Selection of Media 

After the detailed analysis of product and prospect, after 
the selection of plan of distribution, after the organization 
and inspiration of the sales force, there comes the question: 
"What is the best medium by which to carry my message to 
my prospective customers?" Media are too often selected 
first. This "cart-before-the-horse" error has caused many 
false starts in advertising campaigns; for the analysis of 
product, prospect, and distribution plans must help decide 
the question of "What media?" 

For instance, it would be impossible to sell a mail-order 
house's product through street-car cards. Such selling usually 
requires the thorough persuasion of the person reading the 
advertisement. At least it requires more than mere sugges- 
tion. To get people to decide to send money for something, 
you must convince them that it is either cheaper or better 
than they could get elsewhere. The street-car card, with its 
limitations, would hardly be the place for a mail-order mes- 
sage. And so the very method of distribution may decide 
what medium should be used in advertising. 

Every kind of medium has its advantages. A man with an 
open mind is often persuaded toward one medium, then the 
other, until he has almost come, to believe that each one is the 
better. But the question of copy will help to determine what 
medium to use, just as the choice of medium will decide what 
kind of copy to use. For instance, if you decide to use street- 
car cards, you must use copy which is terse and simply sug- 
gestive; but you will have the advantage of colors with their 
excellent display value. If you choose magazines you will 
be able to use a beautiful half-tone of photographic effect, 

187 



1 88 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

and you will have sufficient space to tell your story at some 
length, if you wish. If you choose the newspaper, you usually 
have to limit yourself to a certain kind of a line cut or zinc 
etching, and a brief statement; but you can take advantage of 
every element of timeliness in the relation of your product to 
current events. You need not make the mistake of a tailor- 
ing concern which tried to make use of this element in a na- 
tional magazine which closes its forms many weeks in ad- 
vance of issue. They came out in the fall with a $5,000 " ad " 
which showed Manager McGraw dressed in a suit of their 
make, and announced him as a principal in the World's Series, 
whereas during the month previous the Boston Braves had 
won the pennant, and Manager Stallings was the victor. If 
they had used newspapers, they could have changed their 
copy the night before. 

Your method of distribution will not only help decide what 
kind of medium to use, but also will help decide what kind 
of copy. All these points, in turn, depend on the general 
analysis of product and of prospect. In other words, you 
must first pick to pieces the main elements of appeal that the 
product itself possesses and the main elements of the pros- 
pect's susceptibilities to which those points of appeal can best 
be directed. Then, almost automatically, the question of 
media will decide itself. 

But a good deal of consumer advertising is done mainly to 
influence the dealer. The dealer will not be impressed un- 
less the medium used is deemed by him to be powerful beyond 
question. The value of space always adds glamour. If the 
page cost is $5,000 it means more to the dealer than if it 
costs only $1,000. If he reads a certain medium, or if his 
wife reads it, he is more impressed for that reason. Some 
magazines recognize these facts and make a special effort to 
get dealer-subscribers — or to "merchandise" their medium to 
the dealers. In other words, they seek to persuade the dealer 
of the greatness of their publication as an advertising medium. 

A practical factor in the selection of media is the kind of 
representatives the publications employ. The class of men 
who sell magazine space are notable for their ability to carry 



^VRUDBVr/^ 



This page at left was published in 
1900; the one at right in 1920. Few 
trade-marks have undergone so little 
change. During that time, the Pru- 
dential has been almost alone in its 
field as a consistent advertiser. 




This illustrates the value of close-ups. How much more interesting are 
these two persons whom you can really see, than the mass of thousands 
of people in the picture of twenty years ago. 

189 



190 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

a constructive story to the advertisers. Newspaper solicitors 
are more likely to devote themselves to mere details of con- 
tract, position, and price. Magazine representatives actually 
create business. As a result the magazines are sold better 
than any other media. Most new national advertisers are 
started by magazine men, who thus create business for their 
media. 

A powerful solicitation is also exerted in favor of advertising 
novelties. This medium covers a wide field. Novelties are 
usually high in cost in comparison to number of persons 
reached, although they are theoretically low in cost per num- 
ber of impressions made on each person. They can be made, 
however, to fit the thing advertised, and they permit of the 
use of colors; but, like street-car cards and outdoor signs, 
novelties are limited as to the message they can carry. They 
require abbreviation of the sales story. None of them can 
present your proposition as a salesman can. They simply 
remind and suggest. 

As a rule, all such suggestive media are good for only such 
things as are already known and are wanted. A soda-cracker 
is wanted and is known. You need not tell people what soda- 
crackers are, and why they should want them. Your task 
would be to divert the demand for soda-crackers in general, 
to your soda-crackers in particular. The burden of your 
message is the name of your brand. Among such products 
there is usually sharp competition, for there are many manu- 
facturers of every necessity. Such products are about on a 
par in regard to value: they are all of good quality; they all 
sell at about the same price. For any one of them, therefore, 
it is difficult to build up an advertising argument on the basis 
of price, or even quality. 

But if you sell something that requires a thorough presenta- 
tion — for instance, a cash register — you cannot make people 
buy by saying "cash register" to them over and over again. 
You have to convince your prospects of the reasons why they 
should consider the purchase of such a product. This re- 
quires persuasion. Such advertising cannot be put on a 
painted bulletin, or a street-car card, or an advertising novelty. 



FACTORS IN THE SELECTION OF MEDIA 191 

Any one of these media may be used to supplement an edu- 
cational campaign which is built on persuasion; but alone it 
could hardly carry the load, simply because people read such 
media "on the run." Thus, the character of your message 
helps determine the media. If you have a long story to tell 
you must get your audience "seated." If you just want to 
drop them a hint, you may deliver it "on the run, " with good 
success. 

Another factor in the choice of media is the amount you can 
spend in advertising. If you have a small appropriation, so 
that an extensive general campaign is out of the question, 
you will have to select media which will make it possible for 
you to start a campaign without risking a large amount of 
money at once. If you limit your campaign to a certain 
community, and you spend $1,000 to the result of $100 worth 
of profit for that unit of your market, you can later duplicate 
that same campaign in almost every other city in the country. 

Of course you cannot be sure from just one experiment 
whether or not the same advertising will succeed to the same 
degree throughout the nation, but if you try it out in three 
or four different localities, with the same success, you will 
know that you can afford to spend enough to cover the 
United States; and the great advantage of this system is that 
you can work step by step. You can take the income from 
one territory and invest it in another. 

Usually a new product is launched with very little capital. 
Very often the promoter must borrow deeply to undertake 
any advertising campaign at all. But even then he cannot 
get enough to buy very much space in the general publica- 
tions and thus cover the country quickly. Perhaps even his 
unit experiments will fail at first. He may find he has not hit 
upon the right formula. Either the copy is wrong or he is 
using too large space or too little space, or he has not estab- 
lished the proper relations with the trade. But by this kind 
of experimentation he can find the cause of his failure, and 
knowing the cause, he can change the method accordingly. 

At first an advertising appropriation has to be greater than 
the increased profits will justify. But on an established busi- 



192 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

ness the amount to be spent on advertising is usually based 
on some percentage of the expected sales. This percentage 
varies according to the amount of money necessary, and ac- 
cording to the size of the possible profit. Here is a statement 
of the average percentage of advertising appropriations in 
13 different lines of business: 

* Percentage of 

Gross Sales 

Beverages 10% 

Mail-order 10% 

Cleansing powders 10% 

Smoking tobacco 6% 

Auto accessories 5?4% 

Cigarettes 5% 

Phonographs 5% 

Paint 3^% 

Shirts. . . y/ 2 % 

Office furniture 3% 

Cameras 3% 

Soap 3% 



Of course there are many big users of local media who also 
use national publications. They cannot tell which class of 
media is best and they can afford to duplicate their advertis- 
ing effort. But on some other articles the margin is so small, 
or the field so limited, that it is necessary to keep the adver- 
tising down to the barest minimum, and to select the one 
best medium rather than to use several whose fields more or 
less overlap each other. 

The extent of territory in which the advertiser can sell 
will help him to decide the question of media; at least, this 
consideration will exclude certain media, because if your field 
of selling is limited you will naturally not want to advertise 
in media which extend beyond it, for you would then pay for 
the entire circulation, when only part of it could possibly do 
you any good. So important is this point that some large 
publications — particularly in the agricultural field — divide 
their issues into two editions, eastern and western. The ad- 
vertiser can then circulate his ''ad" in whichever half of the 
nation he can best cover. The editorial contents are the same 
in both. 



FACTORS IN THE SELECTION OF MEDIA 



193 



The following estimate shows the trend in the selection of 
media: 



Medium 



Newspapers 

Magazines 

Business papers. . . 

Street-cars 

Signs and novelties 
Direct mail, etc 



Total Annual Advertising 
Expenditures 



1916 

$380,000,000 

65,000,000 

40,000,000 

5,000,000 

75,000,000 

175,000,000 



$740,000,000 



IQIQ 

$490,000,000 

150,000,000 

125,000,000 

5,000,000 

70,000,000 

300,000,000 



$1,140,000,000 



CHAPTER XXVII 

The Daily Newspaper as a Medium 

Four hundred and ninety million dollars, according to reli- 
able estimates, are annually spent in newspaper advertising. 
Of this national advertisers spend about $155,000,000, local 
advertisers $335,000,000. In the United States there are 
over 10,000 towns, each of which boasts one or more news- 
papers. Foremost are the English-language daily newspapers. 
Of these there are 2,100 with a combined circulation of 28,000,- 
000. Then there are about 15,000 weeklies of two distinct 
kinds: Those which are known as "home print" papers, 
which are completely printed in the shop of the local publisher, 
and are, therefore, more likely to have a thoroughly local 
flavor; and the semi-home, or "patent inside" papers which 
come to the local publisher with one side already printed, 
the other side to be run off on the publisher's own press. 
By using that "patent inside," the publisher saves money by 
escaping a large part of the cost of setting up his own type 
for those two inside pages, and printing the entire paper him- 
self. The syndicate which supplies him with "patent in- 
sides," prints many thousands of these papers, with the two 
inside pages all the same. Some 5,000 publishers get their 
half-printed paper in the same way and print the local news 
on the two outside pages. 

The usual cost of newspaper space is less than one-fifth of 
a cent per line per thousand of circulation. The cost becomes 
about one seventh of a cent per line per thousand for the big 
newspapers where the circulation runs up to 100,000. But the 
smaller newspaper cannot afford to sell its space at so low a 
rate. The usual paper of 1,000 circulation has to charge 
about 20 cents per inch per thousand. 

In the use of small newspapers individually to cover the 
country, an expensive detail is that of sending out thousands 

194 



THE DAILY NEWSPAPER AS A MEDIUM 1 95 

of insert orders and electros separately, and checking them, 
and paying the bills. You would have to pay each paper 
every month. This might mean that you would have several 
hundred bills a day to pay. But by using 5,000 ready-print 
papers you can order the syndicate press to include your ad 
on the pages which they print in advance. In that case only 
one order, two electros, and one bill are necessary. 

Of course, any advertiser would prefer to have his "ad" 
where the live local matter is — on the home-print pages. But 
the syndicate is able so to reduce the cost of production of the 
ready prints that the cost for space on its "inside" pages is 
below that in the local pages. Indeed, so economical are 
ready prints that in hundreds of cases the ready-print price 
for a given thousand will be 3 cents an inch as against a 
price of 10 cents an inch on the local page. 

As a local medium there is nothing better than the news- 
paper. It reaches just the people the local advertiser can 
reach and wants to reach. Its economy is not so important 
to the local advertiser because, as a rule, he finds it necessary 
and profitable to use the local newspaper, even though it is 
considerably higher in price. So natural is it for the news- 
paper to count on the local or home advertising as its main 
advertising, that when the publishers first began to accept 
contracts for space from outsiders they called them "Foreign" 
advertising. The rate at first was high and decidedly in favor 
of the local advertiser. To-day this differential is practically 
eliminated; in the cases of many of the larger newspapers 
wholly so. 

Rates for department-store advertising are usually especially 
low; this is the largest class of newspaper advertising, as the 
table on next page, covering six months in a typical metropol- 
itan newspaper, indicates. 

Newspaper rates usually vary with the amount of space 
used. A maximum rate is charged when minimum space is 
used, and vice versa. Some papers reduce their charges ac- 
cording to the frequency of insertion. In these cases, one 
inch every day during the year will earn a far lower rate than 
365 inches all at one time. Such a system of rates is called 



196 



A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 



Class 


Lines Used 


Percentage 


Amusements 


121,189 

447,933 
2,139,540 

134,215 
331,393 
460,917 

9,313 

18,274 

50,012 

6,313 

33,3io 

155,936 

36,026 

459,640 

3i,35o 

563,233 

238,923 

102,071 

797,322 

875,050 


1-7% 

6% 
30% 

1-9% 

5% 

6.5% 
.00132% 
.0026% 
.0071% 
.0009% 
.00475% 

2.22% 
.005% 

6.5% 
.0044% 

8% 
3% 
1.4% 
n% 

12% 


Automobiles 


Department Stores 


Financial 


Food 


Furniture 


Hotels, Resorts, and Restaurants ...... 

Instruction 


Jewelry and Silverware 


Beverages 


Legal and Public Notices 


Musical Instruments 


Publishers 


Proprietary Medical and Toilet Articles 
Railroads and Steamships 


Real Estate 


Shoes 




Wants 


Miscellaneous 


Total 


7,011,960 





Table showing amount of different classes of advertising in typical city 
paper for six months. 



a "fixed-space" basis. The "open-space" plan does not 
take into consideration the frequency of insertion so much as 
it does the total amount of space used during a certain period. 

Other considerations also decide the cost of newspaper 
space. If you do not furnish your advertisement in plate 
form, and the newspapers, therefore, have to set up your " ad," 
you may have to pay a composition charge of 5 cents per 
inch or more to cover the cost of the labor involved. The 
usual big city newspapers do not make this charge. You 
need only send them "copy," not electrotypes, of the "ad" 
already set up. They will be quite sure to follow the style 
you indicate. But most of the smaller papers cannot do the 
composition work without extra charge, nor can you expect 
them to set up your "ads" in any special way. They have 
few varieties of type, and probably not the one you want. 

The usual advertising rate is based on "run-of-paper" 



THE DAILY NEWSPAPER AS A MEDIUM 



197 



position, which means that the publisher has a right to insert 
the "ad" anywhere he desires. If a special, or "preferred," 
position is specified, an extra charge is usually stipulated. 
Here are the different positions and extra charges for each, 
from the rate-card of a typical newspaper: 







Extra 


Name of Position 


What It Means 


Charge 
Per Line 


Next to reading. 


Advertisement to be inserted with 






reading matter alongside it. 


.10 


Top of column. 


Advertisement to be inserted at top 






of column. 


.20 


Under and next 


Advertisement to be inserted immedi- 




reading. 


ately under, and alongside reading 






matter. 


.20 


Top of column and 


Advertisement to be inserted at top 




next reading. 


of column, surrounded on three 






sides by reading matter. 


.40 



Extra charge is sometimes exacted for position on special 
pages, such as society, editorial, etc. 

The newspaper offers the advantage of linking up the posi- 
tion of an " ad " with the element of timeliness, for it is possible 
to place your "ad" where the character of continuous matter 
will strengthen the force of its message. A millinery an- 
nouncement, for instance, may be most effective on a society 
page. Haberdashery sales are often advertised on the sport- 
ing page. You can also make your announcement corre- 
spond, to a day, with a particular event. You can fit your 
1 ad " to the occasion. If it appears the day before the Fourth 
of July, you can surround it with the atmosphere of the Fourth, 
and thus make it more effective. 

Another big advantage of newspaper advertising is that it 
enables you to check up the results. You can tell whether or 
not your expenditure in a certain town is justified. Suppose 
you are using a thousand inches a year in a certain paper as 
your advertising appropriation for that city. You can tell 
from your books how much business you are getting out of 
that city. If it is not enough to justify the expenditure, you 



198 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

know that your advertising in this locality is not successful. 
This may be due to your choice of medium, or to your copy. 
It may be because you have the wrong local representation, 
or because your advertising has not run long enough, or a 
competitor's advertising is stronger. It may be due to any 
one or to several causes. 

If you were using general publications and the proportion 
of your advertising expense for that city was $2,000, then you 
could not tell whether that certain part of your advertising 
was profitable. Sometimes the same advertising in one lo- 
cality will yield good profit, and in another locality will incur 
a loss. And so, the ability to check up each city in this way 
is perhaps the greatest advantage that newspaper advertising 
offers the men who seek a national market. 

A disadvantage of the newspaper is its brevity of life. It 
is read to-day and thrown away to-morrow at the latest, 
while the magazine is kept. If, however, the effect of adver- 
tising is mainly, if not wholly, in the first impression it makes, 
then the advertisement which is seen many times does not 
possess much more power to persuade than that which is 
seen once or twice — for,^ that which we see again and again 
we do not notice. Perhaps, then, the fact of the short life of a 
newspaper "ad" is not, after all, so great an objection. 

Another element is that of atmosphere. The magazine is 
not only of a comparatively high grade artistically, but it 
contains a better quality of matter. This extends even to 
advertising pages: magazines often refuse to accept medical 
advertising, even when it is of proved merit — a point often 
emphasized in favor of this medium — because an "ad" is 
supposed to be flavored by the company it keeps. If, for 
instance, an automobile "ad" is surrounded by medical ad- 
vertisements, its effectiveness is less than it would be if it 
were surrounded by advertisements of silks and clothing. 

Then, too, there are certain mechanical limitations to the 
newspaper. It has to be printed on cheap print paper which 
cannot reproduce a very good half-tone. The illustration in 
the newspapers must either be a line cut made from zinc or 
wood, or else it must be a very coarse-screen half-tone, which 



THE DAILY NEWSPAPER AS A MEDIUM 199 

cannot possibly show up as photographically as a finer-screen 
on smoother paper. In fact, the main objection to advertis- 
ing in the newspapers is this matter of illustration. You 
cannot present as dainty or as forceful an appeal as you can 
when smooth paper and fine-screened half-tones make pos- 
sible the perfect reproduction of the finest art. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

Sunday Newspapers and Newspaper 
Co-operation 

The huge size of the usual Sunday newspaper has been re- 
garded as a disadvantage to advertisers on the ground that 
an advertisement in such an edition would have to compete 
against too many other features as well as advertisements. 
This disadvantage, however, is somewhat overcome by the 
fact that the reader has more leisure to apply to a Sunday 
newspaper than to a daily newspaper. Especially is this true 
of the women. Men usually find time to cover their daily 
newspapers rather thoroughly, but some women devote as 
much time to the Sunday newspaper as to all the other 
editions of the week. 

That is one reason why the Sunday newspaper is more and 
more favorably regarded as a medium by which to reach 
women. The consensus of opinion is that 80% of all retail 
buying is done by women. There are many actual examples 
that indicate that this is the fact — for instance, a perfumer 
appealing to women found that $6,000 worth of advertising 
in a Sunday newspaper brought in 31,000 orders for samples 
at 10 cents apiece. 

The Sunday newspaper is a group of several different pub- 
lications: one section is devoted to general news, another to 
editorials, one to automobiles, another to real estate, another 
to sports; and there is usually a rotogravure section, or a 
magazine section of some kind. It is important to decide 
in which section you wish your advertisement to appear. . 

The rotogravure section of a Sunday newspaper is regarded 
with growing favor, because of its proved results, and be- 
cause it is logically the preferred section of a newspaper. The 
rotogravure approaches most nearly to actual photographic 
reproduction — that fact is responsible for its popularity. 



SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS AND CO-OPERATION 201 

In 1920 there were only 48 different newspapers with roto- 
gravure sections, although these papers totalled a circulation 
of 5,500,000 readers. Full-page units have been the popular 
size for advertising in rotogravure, and it is usually best for 
an advertiser to use not less than % page. The reason for 
this is simply that to take full advantage of the virtue of roto- 
gravure it is necessary to use pictures, and to use them in a 
fairly close-up manner. Then, too, rotogravure has a certain 
disadvantage in that it cannot reproduce type matter as 
sharply as can black-and-white mediums. For this reason it 
is necessary to use larger type, and therefore larger space. 

The price of rotogravure advertising is considerably greater 
than the straight black-and-white advertising, but about the 
same as the cost of the majority of magazines, circulation and 
general quality considered. However, the cost of plate work 
is saved in using rotogravure, because the advertiser has only 
to furnish to the newspaper a photograph of the illustration 
and type proof of the text material. From this material the 
advertisement is reproduced in the rotogravure. 

A virtue of Sunday and daily newspapers is the assistance 
which they render to the advertiser in: 

(a) Readvertising the consumer advertising to the trade. 

(b) Assisting the manufacturer's sales force, should the ter- 

ritory be unfamiliar to the salesman or crew. 

This newspaper co-operation takes many forms, and is 
usually of particular value to the manufacturer who is en- 
tering the territory for the first time as an advertiser, and 
whose products need wide-spread distribution. Some news- 
papers prepare a complete analysis of the local marketing 
conditions for each particular class of merchandise. Their 
investigators interview large buyers, determine the strength 
of competition, the possibilities for success for the prospective 
advertiser, and submit recommendations as to how the mar- 
ket may best be approached. Other newspapers prepare 
complete route lists of the dealers in their city, with street 
maps showing location of the various classes of dealers. In 
addition to the dealer's name, credit ratings are frequently 



202 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

given, as well as other data concerning the dealer and his 
store. 

Some newspapers prepare elaborate portfolios for the use 
of salesmen, showing reprints of the advertising to be used 
in the newspaper, and containing for the salesman a general 
letter of introduction from the publisher to the trade. In 
other cases newspapers advertise the manufacturer's adver- 
tising to the trade by direct mail, usually just as the sales 
work starts, if distribution for the product is required — or at 
the start of the advertising campaign, if the product has al- 
ready sufficient distribution. This mail work frequently 
takes the form of elaborate broadsides, which are mailed to 
present dealers and prospective dealers. Such broadsides 
show reprints of advertising to be used, schedule of insertions, 
data concerning window displays and dealer helps available 
from the manufacturer, information regarding "free deals" 
and introductory sales offers, if any. These go out over the 
signature of the newspaper. Perhaps a return post-card, re- 
questing window-and-sto re-advertising material, or requesting 
a salesman to call, will be mailed with broadsides or letters. 
Sometimes a proof, or proofs, of some of the advertisements 
are mailed to the trade, with a letter from the newspaper 
telling the dealer about the campaign and urging him to 
co-operate. In cases where full pages are used proofs of the 
copy are mailed to the trade so that the store receives the 
proof the same day the advertisement appears. The dealer 
is urged to paste the proof upon his door or window at once, 
to identify his store with the newspaper advertising. 

Frequently window-display contests for a manufacturer's 
product are arranged by the newspapers. Cash prizes for 
best displays are offered to dealers. The newspaper secures 
entrants, arranges for judging the displays, awards the prizes, 
and handles all details. Other newspapers confine their co- 
operation to the publication of a separate newspaper, written 
especially for retail stores of all classes. This is their medium 
for keeping in touch with the trade. Through this the news- 
paper announces coming advertising campaigns, suggests 
store arrangement, dealer's advertising plans, details of "what 



SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS AND CO-OPERATION 203 

the other fellow is doing," etc. Some trade publications, such 
as these, are quite elaborate and exert a tremendous influence 
on the trade in behalf of the advertiser's product. 

Most newspapers extend co-operation on a definite amount 
of space to be used during the campaign, i. e., 5,000, 10,000, 
or 20,000 agate lines of space to be used within the year. 
Some newspapers desire a non-cancellable contract, so that 
they may count on the promises which they may make to 
dealers regarding the campaign. The amount of space re- 
quired to warrant newspaper co-operation is usually deter- 
mined by the newspaper, based upon its knowledge and ex- 
perience of the size of campaign required in its territory to 
insure an "over-the-counter" movement of the product for 
the dealer. 

About 100 newspapers are thoroughly organized with a 
separate department to give co-operation. But there is no 
standard of service, as shown by the following answers to a 
questionnaire sent to 200 papers: 

73% °f the newspapers mail broadsides or letters to the 

trade for national advertisers. 
27% refused to mail either broadside or letters. 
66% of the newspapers that mail broadsides or letters 

charge postage to the advertisers. 
29% of the newspapers that mail broadsides or letters 

make a charge for stuffing, sealing, and stamping. 
14% of the newspapers will sell products to retailers for 

manufacturers who are advertising in their local 

columns. 
86% refuse to sell goods. 

81% of the newspapers will introduce salesmen to the trade. 
(The great majority of these newspapers limit the in- 
troduction to jobbers and the leading retailers of 

their city.) 

82% of the newspapers make a market survey upon re- 
quest, while 
18% refuse to give this service. 



Magazines, Class and Trade Publications 

In the words of John M. Siddall, editor of The American 
Magazine : 

"No engine equals the national magazine for making us all 
nearer alike and all better. It is the great potential standard- 
izer of modern times. It is the messenger between distant 
localities — the carrier of the new idea that is valuable, and 
the stabilizer of the old idea that is worth while. It is just 
beginning to exercise its full powers. The faster we develop 
into one people, the greater will the magazine be, because it 
is founded on a simple big idea that is sound. The inhabi- 
tants of the United States are thinking more and more in 
national terms. It is better for them that they should think 
so. The magazines have fostered this idea — advertised it. 
They themselves will be the beneficiaries of the idea, as well 
as the promoters of it. A stronger and more closely connected 
country — articulating as one big body — will automatically 
bring stronger and greater magazines, because of the oppor- 
tunity and the need. This is the direction in which the cur- 
rent has turned — and it will have its way. The world will 
not go back to changing cars eleven times on the road from 
New York to Chicago. Nor will it go back to the idea of 
the walled city. It has had a look beyond the horizon. It 
is interested in what it has seen — and wants to see more." 

Magazines originally supported themselves on the subscrip- 
tions of their readers. Advertising was only incidental. To- 
day, few magazines can live on their subscriptions. Almost 
always the cost to secure a subscription is as much or more 
than the subscription amounts to. The advertising which 
the modern magazine carries is the backbone of the profit of 

204 



MAGAZINES, CLASS AND TRADE PUBLICATIONS 205 

the publication. The magazine-advertising expenditure in 
the United States now approaches $150,000,000 per year. 

There are several different classes of magazines. The main 
group comprises the general magazines, of which there are 
about 150 in the United States. These, in turn, divide into 
weeklies, such as the Saturday Evening Post, and monthlies, 
such as The American Magazine. The monthlies, in turn, are 
divided into fiction magazines, such as the Red Book, and re- 
view magazines, such as World's Work. Then there is the 
mechanical division between those magazines which are large 
and are called "flat," and those magazines which are small, 
like Scribners and the Atlantic Monthly, which are called 
"standard," because they are the shape and size and style of 
binding which have been standard for magazines for the last 
half-century. 

Among the women's magazines there are about 50. Some 
of these are general, such as the Ladies' Home Journal, others 
have to do particularly with fashions, such as McCalV s, with 
domestic science, such as Good Housekeeping, with mother- 
hood, such as Mothers' Magazine, and embroidery, such as 
Needlecraft Magazine. In general, women's magazines have 
the most responsive circulation of any class of media. For 
that reason they are greatly favored for advertising purposes. 
Their cost, however, is slightly greater than the general maga- 
zine, circulation considered. For instance, the largest 
women's magazine costs two-thirds of a cent per line per 
thousand of circulation, whereas the largest general magazine 
costs one-half cent per line per thousand of circulation. 

There are certain publications which are designed primarily 
for mail-order work, and although these are not generally 
known, their circulations are considerable. There are about 
30 of these mail-order papers, including such periodicals as 
Comfort, with a circulation of over 1,000,000, Household of 
Kansas, with a circulation of 750,000, and Home Life, with a 
circulation almost as large. The readers of these papers are, 
as a rule, responsive to mail-order appeals, either because they 
have acquired the habit of ordering by mail, or because, living 
in out-of-the-way places, they can more easily buy by mail, 



206 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

or for some other reason. For general publicity, however, 
these media are not so effective, because they do not have 
the prestige which makes their use impressive to the trade. 

In addition to the general magazines, the women's maga- 
zines, and the mail-order publications, there are nearly 1,000 
religious publications. Then, too, there are over 500 agricul- 
tural publications, of which a few are national, such as The 
Farm Journal, with a circulation of over 1,000,000, and Farm 
and Fireside, and The Country Gentleman. Most farm papers, 
however, are either localized as to territory or specialized as 
to class. Of the localized media, most are confined within 
the limits of a State. As to the class agricultural publica- 
tions, most are confined to some specialization, such as horse- 
breeding, dairying, fruit-growing, or poultry-raising. 

In most cases each magazine has its own selling force, in 
which they differ from the custom in the newspaper field, 
where as many as 20 or more newspapers may all be repre- 
sented by one organization. It is difficult for one corps of 
men to sell the advertising space for 20 or so newspapers. 
They cannot work effectively for any one newspaper, as can 
the salesman for a magazine, who can adequately give all the 
arguments in favor of his magazine as well as those in favor 
of magazine advertising in general. 

The magazine is sold on the basis of the page as a unit, 
but, usually, you can buy as small a space as seven lines, or 
half an inch of one column. The cost is figured on the cir- 
culation. This figures out about three times as much as the 
same circulation per line in newspapers — an average of two- 
thirds of a cent per line per thousand of circulation. But 
when both the newspaper and magazine are figured on the 
basis of a page, the cost is found to be about the same per 
page per thousand of circulation in either medium. In other 
words, a magazine of 100,000 circulation may cost per page 
about $500. A newspaper with 100,000 circulation may cost 
about the same amount per page. But, of course, the news- 
paper page is several times the size of the usual magazine 
page. 

One virtue of the magazine is that its readers are at leisure. 



MAGAZINES, CLASS AND TRADE PUBLICATIONS 207 

They tend to concentrate more on a magazine, whether read- 
ing matter or advertisements, than on a newspaper. Still, 
the competition against your magazine "ad" is keen, for all 
the other attractions in the magazines are competing for the 
reader's attention. A person is likely to be more deeply en- 
grossed in a magazine article or story than in anything he 
sees in the newspaper. Consequently, you have a hard task 
to attract his eye toward your "ad" and away from the maga- 
zine's features. 

If your "ads" in the magazine are scattered among the 
reading pages, they suffer the competition of adjacent read- 
ing matter. If they are all gathered in a group at the back of 
the magazine, they compete against each other — but not 
to the degree that street-car cards or outdoor signs do. 
Magazine "ads" engage considerable voluntary attention. 
They seem to be the one kind of paid displays that many 
seek and all seem to enjoy. They do not have to compel 
the eye w r ith sheer display. Some magazine advertisements 
attract through the appeal of art. Others have a literary 
appeal. Others rely on a cartoon. Still others whisper entic- 
ingly in terms of daintiness. Few coerce attention through 
optical force. Magazine "ads" are more versatile than news- 
paper "ads," street-car cards, or signs. The eye can run 
over a hundred magazine "ads" and not get tired because 
they offer a refreshing variety. This is because of the 
magazine's superiority in printing as well as in the degree of 
voluntary attention which a magazine "ad" enjoys. 

In its scope of circulation the general magazine is growing 
more and more like the newspaper. A magazine's readers 
are no longer of a distinctive class. At least, the large mod- 
ern magazine is read by Tom, Dick, and Harry; Mary, Jane, 
and Maud. Except for certain "class periodicals," magazine 
circulation is the general public, just as newspaper circula- 
tion is. 

The element of timeliness can be used only slightly in the 
magazine. There is no chance to take advantage of the 
weather, for instance. Most magazines go to press at least 
a month before their date of publication. Therefore, the only 



208 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

timeliness that can be approached is the matter of seasons and 
occasions of the calendar. Efforts to capitalize these even, 
are dangerous, because there are other "ads" in the same 
magazine (though they announce different things) that may 
also have capitalized the element of timeliness in the same 
way. All such "ads" will then be less effective because they 
thus compete in their line of appeal. 

The magazine does not permit you to cut the cloth to fit 
your suit. You frequently have to pay for much waste cir- 
culation. If your distribution is not perfect you must pay 
to send your message to places where your goods are not on 
sale. This fault is less pronounced in class publications such 
as agricultural, motor-boat, automobile, gardening, and fashion 
periodicals, as well as many others whose circulations depend 
upon certain characteristics of their readers. Magazines of 
general circulation depend on common tastes possessed by all. 
Class publications presuppose distinctive interests and desires, 
and consequently their space costs more per inch per reader 
than space in general magazines. As a rule, such a publica- 
tion is used only for those products which particularly appeal 
to its respective class. 

Certain specialized papers are called trade journals, or busi- 
ness papers, if they pertain to furniture, grain, or some other 
specific phase of business. If their editorial policy is pro- 
fessional or scientific, they are called technical publications. 
But each of these has the common trait of such publications 
— its circulation comprises a clientele of tastes peculiar to a 
certain class. 

There are over 3,000 of these class and trade publications. 
Almost every line of business has one or more — some national 
and some local. For instance, advertising has 20; architec- 
ture and building have about 75 ; dry-goods trade, 15 ; banking, 
90; medical, nearly 200; hospitals, 15. Even to dogs and cats 
as many publications are devoted as to the hardware business, 
and 38 trade papers are devoted to cows. Chickens, however, 
have over 60 publications, whereas nuts have only 5. 



CHAPTER XXX 

Street-Car, Theatre, and Outdoor Media 

Just as you can use the newspaper in a localized way, so 
you can use the street-car card, the theatre program, theatre- 
curtain, the moving-picture, the stereopticon slide, the painted 
bulletin, and the outdoor poster. With all these, except the 
theatre program the theoretical cost per thousand of circula- 
tion is exceptionally low. The theatre program is in many 
respects a class medium. All of these mediums are usually 
used supplementally — as a reinforcement to publication ad- 
vertising. 

The fact that full colors can be used is a strong argument 
in favor of street-car cards. This point is particularly im- 
portant in connection with the advertisement of packaged 
goods, where the aim is mainly to familiarize the public with 
the article and the trade-mark. Here colors make possible 
the reproduction of the package in actual size, and impress the 
article on the person's mind far more intensely than could any 
number of words. The timeliness of the street-car-card im- 
pression is another argument. As a rule, the shopper sees 
the street-car card while on the way to buy. Consequently, 
the street-car "ad" may have the last word in the persuasion 
of that shopper as to what particular brand to buy. Of 
course, this same argument holds just as true as to the cards 
and signs that a manufacturer has in the dealer's store. 

Each street-car card must face tremendous competition. 
Its whole environment is advertising — on all sides. Car 
cards enjoy little voluntary interest, such as advertisements 
may receive in a newspaper or the magazine for which the 
reader has paid. Only involuntary interest does the street- 
car card enjoy. 

In their competition with each other, street-car cards use 
all sorts of colors to win the attention of the casual eye. This 

209 



210 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

tends to create confusion. The result is a tendency to flood 
the specific message of a certain card with a conglomeration 
of all the cards. Experiments have been made to ascertain 
how far this fusion does blur the reader's consciousness. For 
instance, in one city the ice-cream makers did considerable 
advertising in street-cars. In glancing over the ads of three 
different ice-creams, nine out of ten could not recall which 
"ad" belonged to which ice-cream company. The copy of 
each was extremely individual. But in running over those 
street-car cards, the eye was pulled this way and that, so 
much so that the comprehension was really blurred. 

Street-car space is sold at the rate of about 50 cents per 
card per month, and usually on a six or twelve month contract. 
The standard street-car size is 11 x 21 inches. The advertiser 
must furnish his own cards, which cost from $40 to $100 per 
thousand, according to the quantity and the design. In 
addition to full-runs, which means one card in every car in 
the territory covered — half -runs are sold, calling for a card 
in each alternate car. A slightly higher price prevails for 
half-runs or quarter-runs. 

Almost every complete advertising program has in it 
stereopticon slides, because when they are used they are so 
effective, and because it costs so little to furnish slides. 
Usually the dealer pays for having these slides shown in his 
local moving-picture theatre, and therefore the expense to 
the advertiser is only 40 or 50 cents, representing merely the 
cost of the slide. In the usual picture-house only a few slides 
are used during each performance and, as a result, each is 
quite effective. The main objections to a stereopticon slide 
are that you cannot control their use and that you intrude 
on the public attention at a time when it seeks entertain- 
ment for which it has paid. Your message is, therefore, in 
danger of being received with a resentment which may hurt 
your good-will. 

Of course the moving-picture has become an important 
advertising medium, although it still offers a great many ob- 
stacles against its effective use. The cost of producing a 
moving-picture for advertising purposes is not so prohibitive 



STREET-CAR, THEATRE, AND OUTDOOR MEDIA 211 




oT tho famous £&"_%'.<" ■& tm^rwP 






~) 



CHARMS 



P 



^ These miniature reproductions of a series of car cards show how con- 
tinuity can be carried through a campaign. 

All the cards are alike in their main general elements, but in the orig- 
inals there is a refreshing variation of color, in addition to the variation 
of subject, which so happily averts monotony. One of the great virtues 
of car cards is their ability to show food products in actual size and natural 
colors. 



— from $1.00 per foot to $5.00 per foot, depending on condi- 
tions, for the cost of the original, or ''negative." Duplicates, 
or "positives," can be secured at from 10 cents or 20 cents 
per foot. The big difficulty comes after you have your pic- 
ture. If it has enough selling value to justify your advertis- 
ing investment, you will find it very hard to get it into good 
moving-picture theatres. Almost every one of the country's 
15,000 moving-picture exhibitors is jealous of the good-will 
of his audience, and is afraid to jeopardize that good-will 



212 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

by intruding a moving-picture with a commercial hook to it, 
no matter how interesting that picture may be. 

In certain cities agencies have been formed to take over 
the circulation of advertising moving-pictures, and, except in 
cases of the largest and best houses, these agencies have been 
rather successful in getting the exhibitor to accept money 
#for allowing the advertising picture to be projected in his 
theatre. The usual cost to the advertiser for this privilege 
in the average theatre is $2.00 to $4.00 a performance. 

There are two other mediums through which to advertise 
to theatre audiences — one is the theatre program and the 
other is the theatre-curtain. In a few cases the theatre pro- 
gram distributed around a number of different theatres, with 
the advertisements remaining standard in each separate pro- 
gram. In New York City you can buy full-page space in a 
program circulated in 52 theatres at a total cost of $22,000 
per page per year, with an annual circulation of 14,000,000. 
In some playhouses there are usually four or five advertise- 
ments on the theatre-curtain, each occupying a space about 
4x3 feet. As a rule, these spaces are exclusive — only one 
advertiser in each line is allowed a place on the curtain. 
The average price for an advertisement of this kind is 
usually $4.00 or $5.00 per week. 

Outdoor media are divided into three general classes: 
Posters, painted bulletins, and electric signs. The posters or 
bill-boards are sold either locally by the owners, or nation- 
ally by an authorized company representing them. Bill- 
boards are of standard height — nine feet. The usual unit is 
a "sheet" 28x42 inches. Most posters are 24 sheets — four 
sheets high by six wide. The cost is from $7 to $10 a month 
for the posting and showing of each 24-sheet poster. The 
paper costs extra — from $1.00 to $2.00 per board. The names 
of local dealers can be imprinted on each poster. Special lo- 
cations and illuminated boards cost from $15 to $50 or more 
per month per showing. Poster locations cannot be selected 
by the advertiser. He arbitrarily is given certain boards, 
depending on whether he buys a full-showing, a double-show- 
ing, or a half-showing. A full-showing usually means about 






STREET-CAR, THEATRE, AND OUTDOOR MEDIA 213 




%&^. Signed the Treaty that Ended the War 



JkcM-0£te 

rage Battery , 



'—■•Trtrfll . B 



THE NATIONAL SODA CRACKER { 

! Uneeda 
Biscuit 



BsjJaiflMHIII;!^ 




BOYCE 

TVfOTO\f ETER 

A SIZE FOR EVERY CAR 




Pennsylvania Cement 




SOME 24-SHEET POSTERS 

The Peace Treaty Poster was all prepared in advance. The minute the 
signing was cabled, wires went out to almost every poster plant in the 
country. In some cases they were on the boards before the "extras" were 
on the street. 



one poster to each one thousand of population. Three- 
sheet posters cost from $2.00 to $5.00 per month, exclusive 
of the necessary lithographed paper for posting. 

Painted bulletins are "ads" that are painted directly on 
the sign-boards. They are, therefore, not so suited to change 
as are the paper posters which are pasted on. Except for 
that, the painted bulletin and the poster are about the same. 
The price, however, is about twice as great as for posters. 



214 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

This price includes painting — usually twice or three times a 
year. Painted walls cost less than painted bulletins, size 
considered. Electric signs are usually localized. Some manu- 
facturers, however, seek to cover the country, and offer to 
furnish such signs for national advertisers in a country-wide 
way. Rates differ according to size and location. Some cost 
as high as from $20,000 to $30,000 and more per year. 

The fewer painted bulletins, electric signs, and posters, the 
more effective they are. For instance, if the whole side of a 
big building is covered with signs, no matter how wonderful 
in color or size your sign may be, it is worth comparatively 
little, because the adjoining signs so hammer at the eye of 
the passer-by that he cannot get any particular kind of an 
impression. But if your sign is there alone it is worth many, 
many times more in its ability to flash its message to those 
who see it. 

The main thing that differentiates the electric sign from 
every other sign, with the exception of the mechanical window 
display, is the feature of action. Action has, a greater eye- 
attraction than color. On this point there is nothing like the 
electric sign. Electric signs make possible the use of both 
color and action. Also, they are usually located so that they 
reach people where they can buy the thing advertised. 

With signs you can select your territory. For instance, if 
a miller seeks to sell rye flour for the housewife to make her 
own bread, he will find that the best market for that kind of 
flour is in a certain kind of district. With a sign, he can 
reach right into that section and concentrate every cent of 
his appropriation on that immediate market. 

Very little copy should go on a poster or a car card. S. A. 
Riebel, advertising manager of Yuban Coffee, expresses this 
principle as follows: 

"In my opinion, the most valuable car-card from an im- 
pressionistic standpoint is where the two separate and dis- 
tinct impressions — the color scheme through the eye, and the 
message (the thought) through the mind — both flash the brain 
at the same time, and tell the same story. 

"Car-card advertising is much like poster and bulletin 



STREET-CAR, THEATRE, AND OUTDOOR MEDIA 215 

advertising in that it is read by most people at a glance — in a 
flash. When your color scheme attracts, the flash or message 
should tell the story, and this story, to be read quickly, 
must of necessity be brief — but it must also tell the whole 
story and be just brimful of human appeal." 



CHAPTER XXXI 

Demonstrating, Sampling, and Sales Aids 

In the twilight zone between advertising and selling come 
the important items of sampling and demonstrating. And 
sampling and demonstrating, in turn, frequently merge into 
each other. Sampling has usually been regarded as giving 
something for nothing. But, in the modern sense, sampling 
is, in most cases, selling at a very low price a trial size of a 
product. The tendency away from free samples is due to 
the growing conviction that a free sample cheapens the pub- 
lic appreciation of a product, and for that reason discourages 
repeat purchase on the part of the consumer. Then, too, the 
offer of free samples in advertising has frequently led to in- 
quiries from people who were not interested and who were 
not possible purchasers. Indiscriminate distribution is also 
subject to wasteful throwing away of samples, or selling at 
small price on the part of the sampler. 

To make sampling an adjunct to advertising, some adver- 
tisers ask the reader to write for a sample, so that she may 
find out for herself just how good the product is. The re- 
sults of such action-getting advertising are more easily traced 
than in general publicity. If $500 in a certain national me- 
dium will bring only 500 requests for a 10-cent sample of your 
goods, and if $500 in another magazine of the same circula- 
tion brings 1,600 inquiries, then you can see that the latter 
is better for the advertising of that product. 

Still another way to key results is to use the advertising as 
a means to distribute literature. Many large advertisers use 
this system. They announce a booklet to be had on request. 
By this plan the advertisement itself tells enough of the 
story so as to make the reader say: "Well, that sounds like 
a pretty good thing — I'd like to know more about it." With 
interest thus created, the fuller explanation which the booklet 

216 






DEMONSTRATING, SAMPLING, AND SALES AIDS 21 7 

makes possible may create an active desire in the reader and 
thus cause a sale. As to the value of the plan of offering a 
booklet in periodical advertising, one big concern tried an 
interesting experiment. Six "ads" which did not feature a 
booklet produced a total of but 231 inquiries and 57 sales. 
Two "ads" only, which featured a book, produced 644 in- 
quiries and 434 sales. 

To " key " an " ad " means to tag it with a sign of some sort 
so that you can tell which magazine produced each inquiry. 
In one magazine you may specify that the request should be 
sent to a certain address, and in each other magazine you may 
specify a different address. This different address, or differ- 
ent "department number," is the key by which the adver- 
tiser can tell from which publication the inquiry came. For 
getting inquiries, the coupon is a favorable method. About 
twenty years ago the coupon was a new idea. Advertisers 
found it was a general success. But so many have used it 
that people have more or less got accustomed to seeing cou- 
pons and their effectiveness has waned. Still, the coupon 
has elements which frequently make it worth the space it 
takes. The coupon suggests to the mind the idea to inquire 
for further information. It appeals to the laziness of the 
prospect because it saves the trouble of getting a piece of 
stationery on which to write the inquiry. These two factors 
have made the coupon successful in increasing the number 
of answers that an "ad" produces — as against what that 
same advertisement would bring without any coupon. 

Inquiry-getting is a small by-product of the usual modern 
advertising campaign. In fact, the tendency is away from 
seeking answers to each advertisement. Many national ad- 
vertisers have passed through a period of seeking inquiries, 
while they were trying out advertising, and wanted to con- 
vince themselves that people really saw advertisements. 
Presently they withdrew the offer of a booklet from their 
copy. Successively they usually pass through these stages: 

a. Introducing their product to a few people and seeking 
to use inquiries in getting distribution. 



2l8 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

b. Introducing it to more people and using inquiries on 

their dealers to encourage larger and more regular 
orders. 

c. Planting a subconscious knowledge of their product in 

the public's mind so that when a dealer shows it to 
the prospect it will strike a responsive note. 

d. Getting people to ask for their product when in need of 

such a product. In this stage the inquiry-seeking is 
usually dropped. 

e. Making the name of the brand better known than the 

article itself — just as Uneeda is better known than 
biscuit. 

Another way to convert the influence of general advertising 
into concrete results is through out-and-out sampling — ag- 
gressive giving away of samples by personal house-to-house 
distribution, or sending samples to a selected list. This 
method is worked so thoroughly that in almost every town 
in the country there is an official distributer, whose business 
it is to deliver samples and booklets in that locality. The 
cost, exclusive of the cost of the samples, is around $4 per 
thousand samples. 

A big coffee roaster found sampling the solution of one of 
his problems, in this way: He sold his coffee to the dealer at 
about 35 cents a pound. The dealer got 40 cents a pound for 
it, and it was advertised at that price. In order to get every 
dealer to stock up with his brand of coffee, this roaster had 
to have a particularly good argument as to why a dealer 
should be forced to take only a nickel a pound profit on his 
kind instead of the usual larger margin. His argument was 
that it was much easier for the grocer to sell his brand. 

To make his argument true this roaster had a number of 
young women go out through each neighborhood and call at 
the homes in the dealer's locality. They explained about 
the coffee and asked for the privilege of going in and making 
a cup of coffee for the woman of the house. The coffee proved 
so good that the housewife would usually say: "You may 
enter my order for a pound." The demonstrators would 



DEMONSTRATING, SAMPLING, AND SALES AIDS 219 

gather these orders and then go to the grocery store and say: 
"Here are orders for fifty pounds, and of these fifty people I 
guess there are about forty of them to whom you do not 
sell. Possibly about thirty buy their coffee from some mail- 
order house, or from some tea and coffee store or wagon. So, 
if you will sell our brand, why, you will have all these cus- 
tomers. You may not make so much on each pound, but in 
the long run you will make more money." Thus this demon- 
strating helped the dealer's general business as well as pro- 
moted his sales of this brand of coffee. Once a field was cov- 
ered, distribution secured, and demand created, the sales 
could be kept up by advertising without further demonstrat- 
ing work. 

However, house-to-house demonstrating is usually used to 
stimulate consumer purchases and increase dealer sales long 
after distribution in the dealers' stores has been secured. 
There have been many schemes worked out for this purpose. 
Of these, one of the most interesting was perfected by a 
bread baker. He had a corps of women go from house to 
house carrying a suitcase in which were half slices of bread, 
each slice wrapped in a piece of paraffin paper. The woman 
would get the housewife to taste this sample, and at the same 
time would show her through a booklet describing how that 
bread was made. Then she would seek to get the house- 
wife's order for a loaf of this brand of bread. On her order 
the housewife would specify her favorite grocer. All the 
orders on a certain grocer would then be gathered by the 
salesmen, and the salesmen would deliver, on the second day 
following, enough extra loaves so that the grocer could de- 
liver one to each housewife who had ordered and collect from 
her his full retail price. This system, like every other system 
of sampling and demonstrating, required very thorough fol- 
low-up on the part of the advertiser. 

Demonstrating can also be done in stores. Saturday after- 
noon is a favorite time for this work, as women are likely 
to be in the store then, and are likely to have a little extra 
time to taste or try the samples and listen to the demon- 
strator's sales story. Likewise, country fairs and food shows 



220 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

are strategic places in which to carry on sampling or demon- 
strating work. 

Demonstrating or sampling should not be relied upon alone. 
Advertising should accompany either plan. Otherwise, the 
sample is unknown — and therefore a suspected intruder. If 
its name be familiar and respected, as a result of proper in- 
troduction through advertising, then the recipient's attitude 
is: "Oh, yes — this is a sample of So-and-so. I know about 
this. I'll try it." To make her "know about it" the manu- 
facturer must tell her about it through advertising. 

The harder an article is to understand, the more suitable is 
sampling or demonstrating. In fact, some things are so diffi- 
cult of explanation that you cannot convey their desirability 
through word and picture. Even sampling won't do. You 
have to demonstrate — to show people not only the article, 
but how it works. But even if a product is so hard of com- 
prehension that it absolutely requires demonstration, still 
the ideal system is to combine that with educational adver- 
tising. And once you get the public to understand your 
article you need not continue the big expense of demon- 
strating — advertising can keep it familiar to the public from 
then on. 

All adjuncts to advertising, such as sampling and demon- 
stration work, are usually taken care of by the advertising 
department. Some even recommend that the advertising 
department should also be a clearing-house for complaints. 
That is debatable, but it is a recognized fact that the adver- 
tising department should take care of all sorts of sales aids 
that come under the head of sales promotion. For instance, 
the creation of inspirational plans to stimulate the salesman 
is a function of an all-around advertising department. The 
sales organization of many a big advertiser is stimulated and 
kept up to the mark by the ideas that the advertising depart- 
ment puts out. Most of the sales contests are originated by 
the publicity department. 

Lectures often come under the jurisdiction of an advertis- 
ing department. Lectures are purely educational advertis- 
ing. They are demonstrations on a big scale. Included in 



DEMONSTRATING, SAMPLING, AND SALES AIDS 221 

this phase of promotion work are lantern-slides, and, in many 
cases, motion-pictures. Both these phases, in addition to 
many others, may properly be among the duties of an ad- 
vertising department. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

The Dealer's Store as a Medium 

To link up your advertising with the dealer's you will 
want to use his store as a medium. You may want to in- 
stall lithographed signs, window displays, and many other 
kinds of selling aids inside or outside his place of business. 
This phase of advertising will require as much time of the ad- 
vertising department as any other part of the work. For 
one thing, there is so much danger of waste. So much of this 
sort of advertising matter seldom gets displayed in the deal- 
er's store in the way it should be. 

Manufacturers vie with one another to get matter which 
is so attractive that the dealer will naturally deem it of suffi- 
cient value to deserve a place in the front of his store. Some 
advertisers give away signs which cost $4.00 each, and that 
only for a window display. They feel that this is worth the 
money because they will be sure of a place in the window, 
and exhibition there will more than pay for the cost before 
the sign has finished its term of duty. The dealer's window 
plays a big part as a link between the dealer and the manu- 
facturer's national advertising. Window space is so valuable 
that in Chicago a syndicate has been formed to lease the win- 
dow space in certain stores in the down-town district. The 
syndicate which leases these windows from the store-owners 
has the right to put into them whatever- it desires; so, instead 
of the manufacturer getting space in these windows for noth- 
ing, he has to pay a rental to the syndicate for every minute 
that his display is installed. This tendency to charge for 
window space is increasing. 

In order better to systematize the use of the dealer's win- 
dows, an effort has been made by certain big advertisers to 
create an organization of men to do nothing else but install 
window displays. One big association of advertising managers 

222 



THE DEALER'S STORE AS A MEDIUM 223 

worked for over two years on a plan to start some sort of a 
machine of this kind, so that the big advertiser could hand 
out 2,000 window displays, and say: "Here, put these displays 
into 2,000 windows, according to the following list of stores. 
We will pay you such-and-such an amount for this work." 

The value of dealer displays is based on the fact that when 
the average person goes to a store for a certain article or 
articles, if she sees the name of your brand of that article she 
is likely to specify yours. The trouble is that almost every 
advertiser seeks to help his sales by this method; and the 
more signs there are in a dealer's store, the less likely is yours 
to be seen and the cheaper the dealer's store looks. And so 
the tendency toward putting all sorts of signs all over the 
dealer's place of business is on the wane. The tendency these 
days is to put in only the best signs. 

The advertising manager has to take care of this display 
material. He has to work very closely with the selling or- 
ganization. There is so much waste in the distribution of 
this kind of advertising that most of it which is indiscrimi- 
nately mailed out is unprofitable. But, if the salesman per- 
sonally makes arrangements for the delivery and installation 
of the signs, there is little loss. Unfortunately, the average 
salesman has so many grips to carry that it is hard to get 
him to carry signs too, so his usual way is to carry a special- 
order blank, and after he has made arrangements for the pur- 
chase of the goods, he asks the dealer what advertising aids he 
wants. Then he puts down a list on this special-order blank, 
and he has the dealer write his signature as a promise that he 
will use this matter conscientiously. Most dealers are honest, 
and as a result this written promise insures a more efficient 
distribution and use of the advertising matter. 

One manufacturer who tried to distribute a window trans- 
fer had 5,000 dealers to whom he sold at least once every 
three or four months. He ordered only 2,000 of these trans- 
fers, in case many of his dealers would not want them. After 
he had really distributed about 1,000 he had to offer prizes 
to his salesmen in order to get the remaining 1 ,000 transfers 
stuck up on dealers' windows. Yet he had 25 salesmen to 



224 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

help in putting those signs to work. It is easy to buy signs to 
link up your name with the dealer's store. But the difficulty 
is to get them utilized by the dealers. 

There are four main divisions in the field of dealer displays: 

1 . Complete window displays. 

2. Partial window displays. 

3. Outside-of-store displays. 

4. Inside-of-store displays. 

Full window displays are expensive, and they usually re- 
quire a separate staff to install them. To make room for a 
complete window display it is necessary not only to remove 
what the dealer has in his windows, but frequently to wash his 
windows. Or it is necessary to arrange definitely with the 
dealer as to the date on which he will take out his present 
window display and will have his windows washed. Count- 
ing the cost of the display material and the time it takes, a 
complete window will cost on the average of $4.00 or $5.00. 
A junior salesman of low salary may well afford to devote his 
time to this kind of work, but it is more profitable to have a 
special man to do these jobs than to have a high-salaried 
salesman spend his time dressing windows. 

Among the partial window displays are: cut-outs, which 
stand up of themselves by means of easels; decalcomania 
window transfers, which go right on the glass itself and usually 
stay there a year or so ; sign-puts, which are posters on paper, 
with some sort of a device for sticking them directly on the 
window-glass; electric signs, usually with a flasher contri- 
vance; mechanical moving signs operated either through 
clock-work or electricity; and many other similar items. The 
cost of these different displays varies from 10 cents apiece for 
a small window transfer, and 75 cents apiece for a large col- 
ored cut-out, to $10 apiece for an elaborate mechanical mov- 
ing sign. 

For outside-of-store displays metal signs are probably the 
most used. These may consist of enamelled signs which, in 
a fair size, cost about $1.00 apiece, and which are expected 
to last for five or ten years — or tin signs, which are usually 



THE DEALER'S STORE AS A MEDIUM 225 

lithographed on thin steel sheets and varnished. The sO- 
called tin signs will cost from 10 cents apiece for a small strip 
3 inches deep by 16 inches wide, to 50 cents apiece for the 
usual-size sign, about 2 feet by 1 foot deep. Of course these 
prices depend upon raw-material conditions, number of colors, 
character of design, and quantities. Other outdoor signs on 
cloth, wood, and paraffine paper are also used. 

Effective outdoor signs are secured by supplying the dealer 
with a bicycle rack or a broom-holder, or some other such 
useful fixture. 

Inside-of-store displays consist of any number of different 
items, from shelf strips to framed pictures. A shelf strip is 
a very inexpensive sign, usually made on cardboard about 
% inch deep by 1 foot or so wide, for tacking right on the 
front face of the shelf board. Cut-outs are also popular for 
inside-of-store displays, although usually the large-size, ex- 
pensive cut-out should not be used for interior display, be- 
cause it does not get enough of an audience to justify its ex- 
pense and because it is so big that it is in the way of the 
dealer. Where a window cut-out costs 75 cents apiece for a 
display standing 3 feet high, a miniature of that can usually 
be made in one-third size for interior use at a cost of 15 cents 
or 20 cents, depending upon the color, design, and quantity. 

Interior displays also include many devices, such as con- 
tainers for balls of twine, cases for holding paper-bags, and 
hats and aprons for the dealers' clerks. 

The package itself is a very important item of dealer dis- 
play as well as of sales value. A package should have eye 
attraction without violating the principles of taste, because 
above all a package should be inviting. The right use of 
color should be the main means of display, plus the proper 
use of composition. In short, a package should be an almost 
perfect advertisement, with utmost consideration being given 
to the fact that it must win favor at a distance. The carton 
in which packages are placed can be given a word and picture 
appeal, a color display, and a mechanical design which will 
make that carton the most effective of all kinds of interior- 
store displays. 



226 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

Store displays are very, very expensive, and it is necessary 
to analyze how much an advertiser can afford to spend per 
store. This depends on many questions: What are the pos- 
sible sales per month per store? If the average answer is 
$4.00, then a display expense per store of $2.00 would not be 
justifiable. What is the habit of the purchaser of this par- 
ticular kind of product? Does she come to the store for 
something of this kind, or does she come to the store knowing 
exactly what brand she wants? In the former case the ex- 
pense of proper display would probably be more easily justi- 
fied than in the latter case. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

The Mail as a Medium 

Although direct-mail advertising represents a smaller 
amount of money than publication advertising, it probably 
engages more thought and time of advertising men. The 
kinds of direct-mail advertising may be largely divided into 
two classes: (i) Direct-mail aimed at consumers seeking the 
actual completion of the sale between advertiser and con- 
sumer, and (2) Direct-mail aimed at either wholesaler, retailer, 
or the salesman, sometimes seeking the actual sales as a direct 
result, but in the main seeking to influence the channels of 
selling. 

In either event the problems are largely the same. In 
mail-order selling, direct to the consumer, the catalogue is 
usually the backbone of the plan. This catalogue may be a 
general catalogue containing all kinds of merchandise, or it 
may be special catalogues, each one devoted to a particular 
class of merchandise. 

Direct-mail becomes a powerful adjunct to national ad- 
vertising when used as a means of opening the dealer's door 
for the salesman. Here its purpose is largely educational, 
aimed not so much to make the dealer buy by mail as to 
make the dealer receptive to the solicitation of the salesman. 
Frequently in this connection the main use of direct-mail is 
to sell the dealer on the consumer advertising which is being 
put behind the product. One of the beneficial results of direct- 
mail work on the trade is to keep an advertiser's goods be- 
fore the dealer during the long interval which usuallv occurs 
between the salesman's calls. 

The basis of any direct-mail work is the mailing list. This 
must be right. There are many sources from which such a 
list can be built. Consumer mailing lists can be secured from 
local dealers, from directories, from society columns of news- 
papers, from club membership lists, from city and state rec- 

227 



228 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

ords, from consumers, and through advertising designed to re- 
sult in inquiries. Lists of dealers are usually in existence in 
every line of business, and these lists can be refined by taking 
the list of actual customers and getting the salesmen to co- 
operate by furnishing lists of prospects as they find them in 
their travels. 

Given a good mailing list, the problem of direct-mail ad- 
vertising can be largely divided under two headings: (i) Copy 
and (2) Method. The copy problem is largely the same as in 
any other department of advertising, except that more tho- 
rough copy is possible, because the recipient of a direct-mail 
appeal is supposed to read more leisurely than a reader of a 
publication or other medium. The problem of method is 
almost as important as that of copy. This problem, in turn, 
divides itself into questions of How and When. Fortunately, 
direct-mail advertising permits of tests by which the problem 
as to copy and method can usually be worked out in an ex- 
perimental way before the complete expenditure is entailed. 

A writer in System tells of some interesting tests in direct- 
mail work, as follows: 

"In order satisfactorily to solve the question of postage, a 
test campaign of several thousand mailing-cards was arranged. 

" (1) 1,000 mailing-cards were mailed under 1 cent postage, 
return card unstamped. 

"(2) 1,000 were sent out under one cent postage with the 
return card stamped. 

"(3) 1,000 were enclosed in envelopes and mailed under 
first-class postage, the return card being stamoed as in test 
two. 

"The cards were identically the same, the addressing was 
done by one person, the 3,000 names were taken from the 
same list, and the cards were all mailed at one time. Here is 
the comparative productiveness of the three test campaigns 
showing interesting results: 

"Test 1 pulled 5.2% inquiries at a cost of $.292 per piece. 
"Test 2 pulled 17% inquiries at a cost of $.149 per piece. 
"Test 3 pulled 34-5% inquiries at a cost of $.102 per piece. 



THE MAIL AS A MEDIUM 229 

"Next the question of whether the mechanical form of a 
letter had direct bearing on results arose as an undecided 
issue. To end the perplexity a unique test campaign was 
arranged as follows: 

"(1) 500 letters signed by the multigraph, without saluta- 
tion or date. 

"(2) 500 letters undated and signed, bearing the form 
salutation 'Dear Friend.' 

"(3) 5°° letters with name only filled in, as 'Dear 
Mrs. Blank,' but they were undated and signed on multi- 
graph. 

"The tests were conducted under fair and equal condi- 
tions; the same return card was enclosed in each set, and all 
were mailed to names on the same list, at the same time. The 
results were: 

"Test 1 pulled 12% inquiries. 
"Test 2 pulled 12.5% inquiries. 
"Test 3 pulled 11.5% inquiries." 

Letters which are actually typewritten, either by hand or 
by an automatic typewriting machine, have been known to 
pull 68% inquiries, when mailed first-class with first-class 
stamped return envelope enclosed. 

Of the many kinds of direct-mail advertising, the most 
usual is the letter. Blotters are also good, provided they 
are well done. Blotters have been very successfully used in 
the form of miniature newspapers, in the form of calendars, 
and in the form of tables of helpful information. 

Even when a letter is used, a booklet is generally desirable, 
because a letter should be short, whereas a booklet can contain 
full information and also can be illustrated. Folders can be 
used in place of booklets when but few pages are necessary. 
Broadsides have the advantage of being inexpensive on ac- 
count of the fact that they can be frequently mailed of them- 
selves, without envelopes. Also they have the advantage of 
impression, due to their bigness of display when opened out 
in full size. 

Mailing cards are also effective. Frequently a mailing 



230 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

campaign of four or five pieces, at intervals of ten days apart, 
may be made most effective by using different kinds of direct- 
mail matter. For instance: the first mailing may be a letter 
advising of the sending of a booklet at a later date. The 
second mailing may be the booklet itself. The third mailing 
may be a broadside. The fourth mailing may be a mailing 
card, and the fifth mailing may be a letter with order blank 
enclosed. Little folders, to be used as "stuffers" for enclosure 
in regular mailing, almost always pay for themselves, pro- 
vided that not too much bulk of advertising matter is mailed 
in each envelope. 

There is a tendency toward expensive direct-mail matter in 
the form of actual books. A volume of 60 or more pages, 
with board covers, has been found very effective, because it 
seems so much like a book that the recipient is reluctant to 
throw it away. Impressive portfolios, sometimes in loose- 
leaf form with leather or imitation leather-covers, are also 
forcefully used. When an expensive book of this kind is sent 
out requiring, as it does, an expenditure of from 50 cents to 
$2.00 a prospect, it is invariably worth while to pave the way 
with additional mailing pieces calling attention to the main 
book. 

Where expensive folders are used this same sort of tilling 
of the soil is frequently an expense that results in ultimate 
economy through making the main piece de resistance better 
received. Actual photographs and imitation photographs 
are also being used in direct-mail advertising more and 
more. 

House organs are a common kind of direct-mail. Some- 
times they take the form of magazines, and indirectly seek to 
further the interests of a manufacturer or group of manufac- 
turers. Usually they are straight out-and-out house organs 
seeking to persuade the reader of the policies and desirability 
of a certain company. Sometimes they are internal house 
organs seeking to increase and maintain the morale of the 
workers within an institution. The usual dealer receives so 
many house organs that only a very few get his attention. A 
house organ that is not of the highest type of mechanical per- 



THE MAIL AS A MEDIUM 231 

fection, as well as editorial appeal, is apt to have very little 
power. But this same principle holds true in regard to all 
direct-mail. So much of it comes over the usual man's desk 
that only the best of it ever sees the light. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

A Typical National Campaign 

When a manufacturer enjoys practically perfect distribu- 
tion throughout the country, with his goods on sale in almost 
every store, the least expensive campaign is the one that is 
nation-wide and all-inclusive. Here is a typical example of 
the kind of campaign that is usually worked out in such a 
case. This instance is based on the actual facts — only the 
name is fictitious. 

In January this manufacturer decided on a policy of na- 
tional advertising. In September he became a national ad- 
vertiser. It takes only a moment to make these two state- 
ments, but it took years to bring them about, for his goods 
had been successful without advertising, although they had 
been sold without brand — without trade-mark — without iden- 
tity. There is not the slightest doubt but that they would 
have continued to be successful without advertising. All 
that advertising was expected to do was to make them even 
more successful in a shorter space of time. 

Advertising has reached its highest development in America 
because American business men are not content to let the 
public find out for itself about their merchandise. The task 
of this advertising, therefore, was to tell to the American 
public the story of this product as it was known to the trade. 
If every one of the 400 salesmen tried to tell the story of 
his goods each day to ten consumers, it would have taken two 
solid years to tell as many people as were told in one week 
through 2,000,000 copies of the Saturday Evening Post. 

At first the advertising counsellors made a trip throughout 
the country, and called on the major wholesalers in St. Louis, 
Chicago, New York, and other cities. They went into the 

232 



A TYPICAL NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 233 

factory buildings and through them and under them and over 
them. The manufacturer knew the facts, and he revealed 
them. The counsellors then drew up a preliminary survey 
of more than 100 pages, and in that survey they set forth all 
the facts they had found. 

Two months later their recommendations were ready, 
based upon the facts assembled in the report. They pre- 
sented these recommendations to the executives, and re- 
ceived their whole-hearted approval. A few days later they 
presented the plans in detail to the directors, and again 
received an O.K. Two weeks later the complete plan was 
laid before the district sales executives from all over the 
country. 

How had the advertising counsellors arrived at their recom- 
mendations ? There was the whole field of advertising to 
choose from — magazines, newspapers, booklets, circulars, let- 
ters, street-car cards, bill-boards, electric signs. Which of 
these forms of advertising would give the advertiser the great- 
est value for every dollar spent in advertising? They listed 
the different forms of advertising in order of their importance. 
Then they figured how much it would cost to do a thorough 
job in each medium. Naturally, they found that they must 
draw the line before they had reached every form of adver- 
tising, and so, many excellent forms of advertising — such as 
street-cars and bill-boards — were not included in this plan. 
They were not deemed nearly as indispensable as, for in- 
stance, magazines and newspapers. 

This was the first problem: As this was an organization 
which sold to dealers in cities, towns, and villages through- 
out the country, the advertising must "blanket" the country. 
That meant national magazine advertising. But there are 
certain centres, the larger cities, where more possible buyers 
are gathered and where more goods can be sold. Therefore 
it was necessary to put on extra pressure in those centres. 
How should that be done? Through the larger city news- 
paper. That meant a combination of national magazine and 
big city newspapers. 

And the next problem was: How large should the advertise- 



234 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

ments be, and where should they appear ? As to size, inves- 
tigation had revealed that in this line there were already six 
manufacturers who used thirteen full pages a year in the 
Saturday Evening Post — one using thirteen pages in color. 
It was further proved that from the standpoint of mortality, 
99 out of every ioo advertisers who used full pages in the 
Post two years previous to that time were so successful 
that they were large-space users during the previous year, 
whereas out of each ioo users of smallest space, only 23 
continued. 

Maximum space certainly seemed best at the start, to as- 
sure "brand" distribution by impressing the trade, and to 
compel attention by startling the public into a knowledge of 
the trade-name through the "shock" or "drive" method. 
It was figured that after the trade was persuaded, and the 
public began to know that this brand was on the market, 
smaller space might be used. 

The plan divided the National Advertising Campaign into 
two parts — first, advertising to the trade, and second, adver- 
tising to the consumer. These were deemed of almost equal 
importance so far as the success of the campaign was con- 
cerned, for each one depended upon the other. It was vital 
that the trade should know all about this campaign — es- 
pecially now when the advertising was just commencing. If 
they had advertised exclusively to the consumer every mer- 
chant would, sooner or later, have found it out; but they 
naturally wanted every dealer to know, at the very start, 
what a big opportunity this campaign meant for him. 

So the opening gun was a letter to the trade announcing 
the campaign in newspapers, and right on the heels of that 
announcement came the first newspaper advertisement it- 
self. To keep the interest in this campaign at a red-hot pitch, 
the first newspaper advertisement, and then the second and 
third were "smashed" into the leading papers of the country 
within a few days after the first announcement went to the 
trade. 

There were immediate evidences of quickened interest on 



A TYPICAL NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 235 

the part of the trade. A merchant in Boston cut the first 
advertisement out of the Boston Post, pasted it on his window 
and attached a sign directly underneath it. His sign read: 
"We've got them!" Newspapers called up by long-distance 
telephone to say that dealers wanted to run their own adver- 
tisements on the same page with the next advertisement. 
Salesmen reported requests for window signs. 

The news spread very rapidly. Dealers everywhere were 
asking the distributers for more information. So within the 
next few days another phase of the campaign opened up. 
Directly from headquarters came an announcement letter 
signed by the president of the company. Then a broadside 
was mailed to the trade of the country. This showed the 
large advertisements that were to run in the Saturday Evening 
Post. And yet some merchants were still unconscious of the 
fact that anything unusual had happened. But when they 
picked up their favorite trade paper a few days later they 
found a four-page insert, printed in three colors. 

Naturally they began thinking about this manufacturer's 
salesman. They would have a lot of questions that they 
would want to ask him. So just to let them know that he 
was on his way to see them, the salesmen were given special 
Advance Cards to mail out personally to their respective 
customers. 

As many merchants don't have an opportunity to move 
about very much, and sometimes they get peculiar ideas, 
to help the salesman in framing his answers to some of their 
questions and to provide him with the ammunition that he 
might want to use in showing how advertising had made his 
line more desirable than it had ever been before, each repre- 
sentative was presented with a special Sales Advertising 
Manual, at the time of the Sales Convention at the plant, 
after the advertising had just begun. 

This sales manual included the following features: 

1. Description of the purpose of the advertising and the 
results expected. 



236 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

2. An explanation of how this advertising did not add to 

the cost of the goods, but ought to make possible a 
greater value than theretofore. 

3. Showing how the advertising would be of direct benefit 

in reducing resistance on the part of the retail mer- 
chant. 

4. Suggestions as to arguments and methods to use in pre- 

senting the advertising to the dealer. 

As the campaign progressed it was found that the people 
the salesmen met every day were more and more interested 
in his house. In order that he could get more news about 
his organization and about the plant behind him and the 
merchandise that he was selling, a house organ was started. 
This contained articles of general interest and a mass of 
personal news. It told about each other and about head- 
quarters. 

To keep the merchants of the country closely acquainted 
with the progress of the campaign, correspondence stickers 
were prepared. One was produced for each advertisement 
that was to be run in the Saturday Evening Post, and each in 
such quantity that one could be stuck on every envelope that 
went into the mail during a certain period. The sticker called 
attention to the current advertising. For example, during 
several weeks before the opening advertisement was to ap- 
pear in the Saturday Evening Post, every letter bore a sticker 
which read: "Watch for our advertisement in the October 9th 
issue of the Saturday Evening Post." Similar stickers were 
prepared for all the rest of the Saturday Evening Post adver- 
tisements and were used in the weeks immediately before 
their appearance. 

Of course, requests for store signs began to pour in. As 
this had been anticipated an adequate number of these were 
ready for instant shipment, and for the merchants who wanted 
to link up their own stores with the national advertising a 
book of ready-made advertisements was prepared for the 
dealer's own use in his own paper. Practically all of these 



A TYPICAL NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 237 

advertisements had a great deal in common with the national 
advertising. 

When he visits a man's store, as he travels in trains, as he 
sits in hotel lobbies, people ask a salesman about his advertis- 
ing — is his house a big national advertiser? In anticipation 
of this every salesman was equipped with a Pocket Album, 
which slipped into the pocket as easily as a bank-book — no 
longer, no wider, and about one-sixteenth of an inch thick. 
It was no burden to carry and it told the story of the national 
advertising at a glance. 

To avoid the danger that impossible results might be ex- 
pected from the national advertising, the following instruc- 
tions were given to them: 

"We believe that the effectiveness of this advertising is as 
inevitable as time. But we think it would be a great mistake 
to build this campaign for any flash-in-the-pan result. Our 
policy includes the principle that the way to build is to build 
slowly and right, to stamp our message deeply on the public 
mind with bigness of impression and sustained continuity. 

"We believe, therefore, that we should check the real re- 
sults at the end of three years, rather than at the end of six 
months or a year. True, you will get a dealer's stimulus. 
True, the first six months' results may well justify the effort. 
But no complete inventory can be taken until the seed takes 
fruit in the minds of millions of consumers. This work of 
education will not gain force during the first year, and pos- 
sibly not during the second year. Therefore we feel that 
three years must elapse before its effectiveness can be sen- 
sibly judged. 

"We have, therefore, set these goals as follows, according 
to the intervals at which the different results may begin to 
manifest themselves: 

Stimulation of salesmen 4 months. 

Stimulation of smaller dealers 7 months. 

Stimulation of factory employees 10 months. 

Stimulation of larger dealers 12 months. 



2 3 8 



A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 



Stimulation of dealers' clerks .14 months. 

Establishment of consumer acceptance.. .18 months. 
Establishment of public appreciation .... 24 months. 
Beginning of genuine public demand .... 30 months. 



Typical National Campaign* 

First six months 



^Consumer* El- 



2fe _ 
Even: 



gg&&% I ptewspapers 



I Firat Six Montha"1 I ■ I 




CHAPTER XXXV 

A Typical Localized Campaign 

In some cases the possible total market of a product may- 
be limited by freight rates, competitive conditions or distribu- 
tion of manufacturing facilities. In such instances the prod- 
uct's possible consuming population in the United States may 
be only 25,000,000 out of the nation's entire total. That 
was the case with a certain food specialty, and, as a result, the 
advertising campaign had to be localized — national magazines 
could not be profitably used as 75 % of their circulation would 
have been wasted. 

This is the way the advertising was worked out: 

The potential market consisted of 15 cities and their vicini- 
ties — 15 territorial units, mainly urban. This campaign was 
opened with a contest among the housewives of one city. 
The judges were domestic-science experts, including the presi- 
dent of the Housewives League, a Food Specialist of the 
faculty of Cornell University, and about 15 prominent women. 

Two thousand women participated in the contest. It was 
preceded by conspicuous newspaper advertising before the 
contest, and afterward, when the product was put on sale at 
all groceries, more newspaper advertising appeared. Within 
six months the advertising proved so successful in the first 
city that the same plan was carried out in another city. 
The results were similar. The advertising was therefore 
continued in the first two cities and similar campaigns were 
started successively in each of the other thirteen territories. 

In addition to outdoor and newspaper advertising, many 
other factors entered into the success of this advertising, 
such as: 

1, A monthly magazine for the salesmen. 

2. Numerous pieces of window and store display material, 

together with thorough directions for their use. 
239 



240 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

3. Selling talks to the salesmen. 

4. Publicity for instilling loyalty and enthusiasm into the 

factory workers. 

5. A new system of house-to-house canvassing. 

The handling of the advertising required endless detail, 
because, as the campaign in each city was started, that par- 
ticular city required separate, distinct, and special treatment. 
This compelled the advertising manager to make visits of 
days, and sometimes weeks, to each of the plants. As a result 
of these visits, he was able to size up local conditions in a way 
that permitted him to keep continuous contact with the local 
manager, and to keep advising him on his local selling con- 
ditions with an intelligence based on an intimate knowledge 
of his own particular local problems. 

Among many other sale aids the advertising manager pre- 
pared a 20-page book somewhat after the form of the American 
Magazine style of editorial treatment. This was designed to 
impress the grocer with the desirability of pushing the product. 
He had every salesman send in the name and home address 
of every grocer, and he sent a letter to that grocer, over the 
signature of the salesman who called on him. This letter was 
followed up by the book, which was also sent to the grocer's 
home address. Fifty thousand of these were mailed. Later 
a series of merchandising blotters were prepared as a follow-up 
to the book. 

The advertising of course never stopped. Each district 
manager was furnished every other month with a special 
schedule, so that he could advise his salesman as to what 
advertising would be done in his city during the following 
two months. Here is a typical program for March and April 
in one of the cities: 

"February 23d to March 6th — fourth advertisement ap- 
pears in newspapers. This advertisement features a little 
girl with her dolly. It will run in newspapers in the following 
order: (A schedule followed, showing what newspapers this 
advertisement would appear in and on what day). 

"Attached to this program is a proof of this advertise- 



A TYPICAL LOCALIZED CAMPAIGN 241 

ment. The drawing for this advertisement is the product of 
one of the best artists in the country. We believe that it will 
make a real impression on the housewives. 

"March 5th to 10th — March issue of the House Organ. 
This issue is full of interesting articles with a large amount of 
'News from the Plants.' 

"March 10th — Put out 'Easter' window cut-outs. These 
cut-outs, which are furnished in both cardboard and paper 
form, make an opportune piece of window material that every 
grocer should be glad to feature. 

" A sample of this cut-out will be sent you. The cardboard 
cut-out is very expensive and should be used only in the best 
stores. The paper copy of same is fixed so it can be easily 
pasted against the inside surface of the glass in the door or 
window. We are shipping you the following quantities of 
these: 450 on heavy cardboard; 900 on paper with stickers. 

"March 15th — 3-sheet posters are posted all over the city. 
A real boy and girl give these 3-sheets an appeal which will 
make them attract real attention. 

"March 8th to 20th — fifth advertisement appears in news- 
papers in the following order: (Schedule followed). 

"In this advertisement, the popular 'Baby' is again the 
subject of the illustration. The head-line is: 'What do his 
chubby cheeks tell you ? ' This real youngster is making a 
real impression on everyone. 

"A proof of this advertisement, # BT 5, will be sent you. 

"March 226. to April 3d — Advertisement # BT 6 in local 
newspapers in the following order: (Schedule followed). 

"This is another of the advertisements featuring children. 
Proof of this ad will be sent you. 

"April 1st — 24-sheet posters are posted according to lists 
which will be sent you. The subject of this 24-sheet is the 
same as the 3-sheet posters which appeared in the early part 
of March. 

"April 1st to 5th — April issue of House Organ. 

"With every issue this magazine is becoming more and more 
inteiesting, and the April number we feel will help every 
salesman. 



242 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

"April 5th to 17th — Advertisement § BT 7 appears in 
local newspapers in the following order: (Schedule followed). 

"Proofs of this advertisement which carries on the children 
series in the same attractive way will be sent you. 

"April 10th to 15th — 3-sheet posters are posted all over 
the city. The subject of these posters is a real boy standing 
at one side, eating. 

"April 15th— Put out 'School Girl' cut-outs. Not only 
are these cut-outs attractive, but they are, perhaps, the most 
elaborate cut-outs we ever produced. 

"Like the 'Easter' cut-out, this 'School Girl' cut-out 
will be furnished you in two forms — some on heavy card- 
board for the best stores — others on paper to paste to the 
inside of windows in poorer stores. We will ship you the fol- 
lowing quantities: 450 mounted on heavy cardboard; 900 on 
paper with stickers. 

"April 19th to May 1st — Advertisement § BT 8 appears 
in newspapers in the following order: (Schedule followed). 

"This is another of the series of ads featuring children. 
And it is a real piece of copy — so good that it will be remem- 
bered long after it has appeared in the papers." 

It so happened that this campaign was a rather unusual 
success in an unusually short time. But this is not typical 
of the average successful advertising campaign, nor is it to 
be expected. In fact, in many cases it is not to be desired. 
Peculiar conditions . surrounded this particular product, and 
this made possible a lightning-like progress. 

In the first place, the specialty was an entirely new brand. 
Progress, therefore, could be measured by the fact that it 
started off from nothing. In almost every case within six 
months this brand became the leader in its locality. This 
was more than satisfactory and seemed to be about as good 
as could be expected. The natural temptation would have 
been to let up on, the advertising effort and simply keep the 
brand a little bit ahead of its competitors. But this tempta- 
tion was resisted. 

The advertising was kept up consistently with quite as 
much force as during the first six months. The sales kept 



A TYPICAL LOCALIZED CAMPAIGN 243 

increasing with an occasional slip-back, but on the whole the 
progress was upward, so that at the end of three years the 
volume in this brand was three times greater than at the end 
of six months, and the leadership became more dominant than 
the leadership that any previous brand had ever enjoyed. 
This, in turn, brought a new and very vital problem, in that 
the trade did not like to favor a brand which was so success- 
ful that, simply as a result of public favor, it almost monopo- 
lized the market. The dealers naturally were sympathetic 
to the weaker brands, and for that reason were inclined to 
discourage the progress of the brand that had won first place. 

Advertising was by no means the sole cause of this success. 
The main reason was the superiority of the product. This, 
in turn, was due to skill in the making and quality of the in- 
gredients. The result was that the brand was really a much 
better buy for the public because it contained more and better 
food than competitive brands. But it was the great volume 
which advertising had helped to build that made it possible 
to engage the finest manufacturing skill in the country and 
made it possible to standardize the process to a degree that 
approached perfection. And it was due to the immense vol- 
ume that the manufacturer could afford to pay more for his 
ingredients and yet profitably sell the product at the same 
price as other manufacturers had to get for their brands. 

But a more typical case was the case of another specialty 
which had been on the market for several decades. Its quality 
w T as unusually good, and it had gradually built itself to lead- 
ership in certain territories. Its manufacturing process, how- 
ever, was so superior that it was more expensive to make 
this brand and, as a result, its price had to be higher than the 
average competitor's. 

The advertising could not cause any rapid strides forward, 
because already the volume had been built to a considerable 
height. Then, too, the extra price acted as a constant dis- 
couragement to the consumer. The greatest part of the task 
was, therefore, to keep the present user sold, and to maintain 
the business that had been built up. In other words, the first 
function of the advertising had to be defensive — mainly to 



244 A SHORT COURSE IN ADVERTISING 

hold the business and incidentally to add to it. Another 
rather typical feature entered. There had been a lapse in 
the advertising for several years. It is a strange fact that 
when you omit advertising pressure for a year it requires 
almost twice as much money and twice as much time to 
bring a brand back to the point where it was before the ad- 
vertising was discontinued. That is why it is frequently 
easier to start a new brand than to revive an old brand which 
has been allowed to sink into semi-oblivion. 

One manufacturer found that after only six months' omis- 
sion of advertising he had to almost double his annual appro- 
priation, and still it took nearly three years to make up the 
loss in public acceptance and demand. 

One of the greatest causes of waste in advertising is the 
expectation that an advertising success can be made without 
adequate time, and without the continuous expenditure of 
enough money to make a definite impression. The old idea 
was to run an advertisement as a sort of "flier," and then see 
what the results might be. In 90 cases out of 100 the results 
were nil and the money was wasted; whereas if a thorough- 
going advertising program of three or five years' duration had 
been carefully considered, and finally adopted as a definite 
part of the business policy, the chances would have been 
almost 99 out of 100 that with .a fairly intelligent handling 
the result would have been a huge success, by which the manu- 
facturer would have lifted himself from mediocrity to leader- 
ship. 



INDEX 



Addington, G. G., quoted concerning color 
values, 56, 57 

Advertising agency, advantages of work- 
ing through, 174, 175 

Advertising campaign, first steps in, 174- 
176; sample plan, 170-180; example of 
localized, 239-244; of national, 232-238 

Advertising department, functions of, 220 

Advertising manager, work of, 174, 175, 
223 

Agate line, term of measurement, 79 

Alexander, H. W., quoted, 172, 173 

Analysis, of product, 19-25, 28; of prob- 
lem, 95-99; of market, 125, 126, 128, 
130-132 

Appeal, by logic, 22; through "business 
instinct," 24; by appreciation of con- 
sumer's self-interest, 27, 36-39; visual, 
86 ff.; price most effective, 103; con- 
tinuity of essential, 181-186; to women, 
200, 241, 242 

Automobile advertising, 25, 26, 104, 127, 
128, 135, 148 

Bargain days, 112, 113 

Bauer and Black, examples of advertise- 
ments, 171 

Bausch and Lamb, examples of advertise- 
ments, 53 

Bayer's Aspirin, trade-mark and, 15 

Beauty appeal, 56, 57 

Ben Day screens, 92, 93 

Bill-boards, use of, in advertising, 8, 212 

Blocking of plates, 70 

Blotters, use of, in advertising, 229 

Bond Bread, example of trade-name, 14 

Boyce Moto Meter, example of advertise- 
ment, 213 

Broadsides, use of, 229 

Bulletins, use of, 190 

Cabot Stains, examples of advertisements, 
i59 

Calendering of paper, 75 

Car-card advertising, standard size of, 57; 
uses of, 187, 188, 190, 191; competition 
in, 209, 210; cost of, 210; examples of, 
211; preparing copy for, 214, 215 



Cartons, as means of advertising, 225 

Caslon type, 77 

Catalogues, use of, 141, 143, 220 

Central thought, importance of, 180-186 

"Charms," examples of advertisements, 
211 

Cheltenham type, 78 

Circular letters, cost of, 22; effectiveness 
of, 109; early steps in campaign, 157 

Circulars, preparation of, 81 

Color, value of, 47, 48; chart, 56; choice of, 
56-57; printing of, 65, 66 

Competition, source of advertising, 2 

Competitor, influence of in choice of ad- 
vertisement, 138, 139 

Concreteness, value of, 43, 44, 182 

Consignment, selling goods on, 151, 152 

Consistency, necessary feature of adver- 
tising, 242-244 

Consumer, analysis of, 20, 132-137; bene- 
fit of advertising to, 3-7, 243; use of 
statistics in analyzing, 125, 126, 129- 
131; self-interest of, 34, 36, 182-185 

Contests, use of in local campaign, 239 

Continuity, essential to success, 18, 211; 
how to achieve, 1 81-186; example of 
"Charms" advertisement, 211 

Contrast, value of, 47 

Copy, meaning of term, 30; choice of 
words, 30, 31; danger of "cleverisms," 
32; personal element in, 33-35; sincerity 
m > 37> 38, 101, 106; size and color, 55- 
57; composition of, 82-85; price empha- 
sis in, 103 

Copyright, distinguished from registra- 
tion, 18 

Costs, of advertising, covered by profit, 
2-4, 22; problem to new producer, 191, 
192 

Coupons, use of, 217, 218 

Crayon illustrations, 91, 92 

Cuts, use of in advertising copy, 68, 81, 82 

Dealer, advertising appealing to, 152, 155- 
158; co-operating with manufacturer, 
160, 161, 222-224; influenced by con- 
sumer advertising, 156-161, 188; rela- 



245 



246 



INDEX 



tion to salesman, 169, 170; use of trade 

journals, 176 
Demand, creation of, 24, 25; analysis of, 

163 
Demonstration, use of, 157, 218-220 
Department-store advertising, cost of, 99; 

price appeal of, 103; example of, in; 

window display in, 115; problems of, 

117-124; sales, 123, 124; newspaper best 

medium, 195 
Display, appealing to eye, 47-49; to mind, 

47-49; combined appeal, 52-54 
Distribution, direct to consumer, 138-144, 

145, 146; direct through agent, 146-149; 

local advertising means of, 164-168; 

successful campaign dependent on sys- 
tem of, 162-164 
Dummy, uses of, 81, 82 

Eastman Company, advertising of, 12, 13, 

83 
Edison, examples of advertising, 119 
Electric signs, 8, 214 
Electrotypes, use of, 72 
Em, term of type measurement, 78, 79 
Enamelling, of paper, 75 
Exaggeration, danger of, 101, 106 
Exclusive agencies, use of, 146-152 
Eye-display, through contrast, 47; space, 

48; color, 48; size, 48; devices of, 87, 88 



Insurance advertising, 104, 128 
Intaglio printing process, 66, 67; artistic 
value of, 67 

Jobbers, selling through, 138, 150; adver- 
tising essential to success of, 151, 152, 
154, 155 

Kodak, a trade-name, n, 12; examples of 
advertising, 83 

Labels, use of, 16; printing of, 65, 66 

Letters, as advertising medium, 229 

Libby's, examples of advertisements of, 
165 

Liberty Loan, advertising in, 7 

Line-cuts, 86 

Line-drawings, 71 

Linotype, 80 

Lithographic printing, 64-66 

Local advertising, newspaper best me- 
dium, 195; typical campaign, 239-244 

Locomobile, examples of advertisements 
of, 127 

Lowney's Cocoa, examples of advertise- 
ments of, 183 

"Lux," appeal of advertisements, 11, 12, 
57, 90, 186 

Luxuries, advertising of, 21-23, i°°> i°4J 
display of in department stores, 115 



Fairbanks Company, 12, 45, 59 

Fairy Soap, examples of advertisements, 5 

Federal Trade-Mark Law, 18 

Filene's, examples of advertisements, in 

Font, typographical term, 78 

Furniture, selling of, 149 

"Gold Dust Twins," 12, 45, 59 

Good-will, 154 

Gothic type, use of, 77, 78 

Gravure printing, 66, 67 

Grocery-store advertising, 99 » 

Half-known products, advertising of, 24- 

29 
Half-tones, process of making, 68, 70; 

kinds of, 70, 71 
Hart, Schaffner, and Marx, examples of 

advertisements, 89 
House organs, value of, 230, 231, 236 

Illustrations, suggestion by means of, 42; 
best instrument of attraction, 48; choice 
of, 86-93; size and cost, 94; see Layout 

Ingersoll watch, examples of advertise- 
ments, 97 



Macey Co., examples of advertisements, 

io5_ 
Machine finish, in regard to paper, 75 
Magazine advertising, benefit to public, 6, 
204, 205; choice of cuts for, 71; layout 
of, 81, 82; illustrations for, 92, 93; best- 
selling medium, 190; classes of maga- 
zines, 205, 206, 208; size of, 206; favored 
positions, 206, 207 
Mail, advertising by means of, 227-231 
Mail-order business, 96, 139-148; example 

of advertisement, 141 
Manufacturer, benefits of advertising to, 
2-4; creation of dealer demand by, 150, 
152-156; distribution problem of, 158- 
164 
Margin, selling to dealers on, 153, 154 
Market, analysis of, 201 
Measurement of type, 75, 78-81 
Media, influences in choice of, 190-192; 
table of, 193; bill-boards, 212; booklets, 
216, 217; bulletins, 213; circular letters, 
109; daily newspapers, 194-199; demon- 
stration, 218-220; electric signs, 214; 
magazines, 204-208; mail, 227-231; 
movies, 210-212; posters, 213; pro- 



INDEX 



247 



grams, 212; samples, 216-218; Sunday 
papers, 200, 201; theatres, 21a 

Mermen's, examples of advertisements, 69 

Mind-Display, subtlety of, 4Q, 50; essen- 
tial qualities of, 51-53; example of, 54 

Monotype, 80 

Motion, effective in advertising copy, 4s, 

49 

Moving-pictures, made possible by adver- 
tising, 4, 6; as medium, 210-212 

Multigraphing, 23 

Name-Publicity advertising, S-n; trade- 
mark and, 12, 13; when to use, 26, 27; 
disadvantages of, 36, 37; establishment 
of, 217, 218 
National advertising, 12, 118; salesman- 
ship in, 162-168; steps in campaign, 
174-180; typical campaign, 232-238 
Necessities, advertising of, 23, 27, 28 
Negative method, danger of, 49-53 
New products, advertising of, 19-23 
Newspaper advertising, choice of cuts for, 
71-73; layout of, 81, 82; style of car- 
toons, 86, 91-93; "Want Column," use 
of, 100, 101; power of, no, 112, 158, 
160; in planning campaign, 180; advan- 
tages and disadvantages of, 188, 197- 
199; rates, 195-197; classes of advertis- 
ing in, 196; favored position in, 196; 
Sunday papers, 200, 201; market analy- 
sis by, 201-203 

Offset process, 66 

"Old Dutch Cleanser," effectiveness of ad- 
vertising, 12, 16, 18 

"Old English" type, use of, 153 

"Olivilo," examples of advertisements, 
i53 

Overstocking, danger of, 154, 155 

Packages, means of advertising, 225 
Painted bulletins, 213; preparation of copy 

for, 214, 215 
Papers, choice of, for printing, 73, 75; 

table of, 74 
Persuasive advertising, advantages of, 

8-n, 22, 23, 36-38 
Photographs, in illustrating copy, 94, 99; 

in mail advertising, 230 
Photogravure printing, 66, 67 
Pianola, examples of advertisements, 129 
Pica, printing term, 79 
Placing of advertisements, 22, 23, 25, 107, 

108, no, 112 
Plates for printing, kinds of, 68, 70-72 
Ply, paper term, 75 



Point, typographical term, 75, 78 

Posters, use of colors in, 56; size, 57; ap- 
pealing illustrations for, 91, 92; prep- 
aration of copy for, 212, 214, 215; ex- 
amples of, 213; cost of, 212 

Presses, kinds of, 64, 66 

Prices, cut by advertising, 3, 4 

Printing of advertisements, 64-67; Intag- 
lio process of, 66, 67; kinds of plates, 68- 
73; papers for, 74 

Producer, benefit of advertising to, 1-7 

Product, analysis of, 19-28, 140, 142 

Prospect, analysis of, 19-28, 1 25-131; aid 
of statistics in, 128, 130 

Prudential Insurance Co. of America, ex- 
amples of advertisements, 187 

Psychology, in advertising, 30-33, 38, 39 

"Quaker Oats," transfer from "name" to 

"persuasive" advertising, 10, n 
Questionnaires, examples of, 133, 135-137 

Rates, bulletins, 213, 214; car cards, 210; 
magazines, 206; moving-pictures, 210, 
211; newspapers, 195-197; posters, 213, 
214 

"Reason-why" advertising, 10, 22 

Red Cross, advertising of, 7 

Retail advertising, 95-101; price emphasis 
in, 102, 103; in newspapers, no, 112, 
113; by window displays, 114; manufac- 
turing co-operation in, 115, see Depart- 
ment Stores 

Riebel, S. A., quoted, 214 

Rotary process, 64-66, 73 

Rotogravure printing, 66, 67; Sunday pa- 
pers and, 200, 201 

Routing, process of, 72 

Salesmen, importance of advertising to, 
169-173; window displays supervised 
by, 223; equipment of, 235-237 

Sales organization, co-operating with ad- 
vertising department, 109, 170, 172, 173 

Sales systems of distribution, 138 ff. 

Samples, use of, 43, no, 216-220 

Saturday Evening Post, the, power as ad- 
vertising medium, 232, 234 

Screens, use of in half-tones, 70, 71 

Sears, Roebuck Co., successful mail-order 
business of, 143 

Sherbow, Benjamin, quoted concerning 
type, 77 

Siddall, John M., quoted concerning mag- 
azine advertising, 203 

Silhouette half-tones, 71 



248 



INDEX 



Sincerity, value of, 7, 37, 38, 106, 182 
Size, use of, in copy, 48, 55; problems in 

choice of, 58-61 
Sizes, of boards, 75; of car cards, 57; of 
magazines, 55; of newspapers, 58; of 
posters, 57; of printing papers, 73; of 
type, 78, 79 
Sizing of paper, 73, 75 
Slogans, use of, 18, 185; examples of, 186 
Space, value of, 48, 188; factors influenc- 
ing choice of, 58-63; measurement of, 79 
Specialties, advertising of, 100, 104, 109 
Statistics, aid of in market analysis, 128, 

130, 131 
Stereotype, 73 
Stock, turn-over increased by advertising, 

154, 155; in relation to demand, 163, 164 
Street-car advertising, see Car Cards 
Style, for copy, kinds of, 45-46, 185, 186 
Suggestion, basis of advertising, 39 ff.; by 

means of illustration, 42; by language, 

43-46 
System, quoted, 228 

Theatre, use of curtain and program 
advertisements, 212 

Timeliness, valuable element in advertis- 
ing, 134, 135, 178, 180, 197; possible in 
newspaper advertising, 188; difficult in 
magazine advertising, 207, 208; example 
"Peace Treaty" poster, 213 

Tooling of plates, 70 

Trade characters, examples of, 186 

Trade-mark, value of, 12, 13; registration 
of, 14-16, 18; selection of, 15; establish- 
ment of through continuity, 18, 181, 
182, 184; examples of, 185, 186 



Trade-name, examples of, 16, 18 

Trade publications, use of, 176, 178, 179, 

208 
Type, choice of, 76, 82, 84, 85; kinds of, 

78, 79; terms of measurement, 78-81; 

methods of setting, 80, 81; table of, 8; 

dummies and layouts, 81, 82 
Type page, size of, 81 

"Uneeda Biscuit," establishment of name, 

12, 15, 26, 213 
Units of type, 76 
Unknown product, creation of want for, 

19, 20, 22, 23 

Victrola, examples of advertisements of, 17 
Vignettes, 71 

Wash-drawings, use of, 91, 92; cost, 94 

Waterman's Ideal Fountain Pen, peace 
treaty advertisement of, 213 

Web process, 64-66 

Whitman's candies, examples of advertise- 
ments, 147 

Window display, methods of, 114, 115, 
202, 224-226; cost of, 224-226 

Women, 80 per cent of shopping done by, 
35; use of Women's Magazines as media, 
205 

Woodbury's Facial Soap, examples of ad- 
vertisements, 35 

Woodcock, D. A., quoted in regard to 
trade-marks, 13 

Wood-cuts, 68, 72 

Words, choice of, 31 ff., 43, 44 

Zinc etchings, 68, 71, 72 



&77-1 



